Aspire

It's a drink.


And the manufacturers claim that when you drink it, it could cause you to burn up to 200-odd calories without lifting a finger.

The idea is that there are ingredients in it that have a high metabolic cost to process. It's the same idea as Weight Watchers focused on in their new Pro Points scheme.  Everything you eat has a metabolic cost.  Some things are simpler/easier to convert into energy and building blocks than others; some things require more energy spent by your systems to perform that conversion than others.  And there's been a (fairly limited and not statistically significant) study carried out by Leeds Metropolitan University which seems to show that resting energy expenditure could well be appreciably elevated  for a period of time due to drinking Aspire. 

I'm not the biggest fan of cranberry, but the taste is actually quite pleasant.  This is mostly because it's not overly sweet.  There's a hint of the "seltzer" to it and I guess that's down to the added vitamins etc.  As a soft drink goes, I think it's one I'd think about buying to keep the variety up (especially while I'm Not Drinking).  And with talk of there being a new flavour launched in March, it's a real candidate to add into the variety rotation of drinkies to stave off the taste boredom.

If there really is an effect, it might be a nice little helping hand to general calorie expenditure, but even if not it's quite a nice drink.

Red Chicken - HEAVENLY Weight Watchers Pro Points recipe

From the oh-so-pretty 'Oriental Express' recipe book... this is an incredibly tasty recipe, I'm really extremely impressed.

Serves 1; 7 ProPoints per serving (247kcals, protein 35g, carbs 20g, fat 1g, fibre 0.5g, fruit and veg 0.5)

• 1 chicken breast
• 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2tbsp chinese/japanese cooking wine (mirin) or sherry
• 1 star anise (I couldn't get any, but it was fine without)
• 1 clove
• juice of 1/2 orange (I used 1/2 lemon, I prefer a sharper flavour)
• zest of 1/2 orange (I used lemon again)
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• thumb sized piece of ginger
• (1/2 a chilli - not in the recipe, but I like it and it adds flavour not carbs/kcals)

 Cut the ginger into matchsticks, slice the chilli, zest the fruit...

Put the soy sauce, mirin, fruit juice, fruit zest, (chilli) clove and star anise in a pan with a lid and bring to the boil.

Cover and turn off the heat.  Leave to infuse for 5 minutes.

 
Add the chicken to the pan, spoon over the sauce and bring back to the boil., cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, spooning sauce over periodically.

 
Turn the chicken 1/2 way through the cooking.
Remove the chicken from the pan, slice diagonally and serve with the sauce spooned over the top.

Serve with 40g brown rice and add another 4 ProPoints.

I served with brown rice and steamed cabbage (cooked both at the same time in the StarChef - handy!) and this was absolutely -heavenly-!  Seriously delicious!  I am really impressed with this recipe; it's going on my "Standard, Easy And Tasty" list.

Hot prawn pots - Weight Watchers Pro Points recipe

I finally got a chance to try one of the recipes from the 'Seriously Satisfying' Weight Watchers (Pro Points) recipe book!  Don't get me wrong, it's not because it was a laborious or time-consuming recipe that I hadn't tried it yet - it was quick and easy - it's just been so mentally difficult to get beyond cooking tried and tested stuff or, worse still, just ordering takeaway.  We've got into a horrible habit of eating takeaway around once or twice a week now, plus going out for food maybe once as well.  It's purely because we're both so busy at work that we're mentally and physically drained by the time it comes to making evening meal decisions.  This has to change because it's a downwards spiral of not being strong enough to deal with thinking about cooking, eating out, feeling worse and giving up, ending up eating out more, blah blah...

So, last night, while the boys had a relatively righteous pizza dinner after their afternoon's exercise of going for a recce of the cycle and run routes for the sprint triathlon in a few weeks time, I didn't give in and order any!  I was strong(ish) and headed for the Weight Watchers recipe books to get on with it.

I'd been hankering for prawns for a while, so settled on the 'Hot Prawn Pots' recipe...

8 Pro Points per serving:-

• Low fat cooking spray (I substituted Berio Light Olive Oil spray)
• 15g low fat spread (I substituted Coconut Oil)
• 15g plain flour
• 150ml skimmed milk
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon (I'd recommend an unwaxed one or a very well washed one)
• 1tbsp fresh, chopped parsley (I didn't have any)
• 60g peeled cooked prawns
• 25g sweetcorn
• 15g bread, diced
• salt and black pepper to taste

The recipe says you need 1 10cm/4" diameter ramekin.  What I cooked didn't fit in one of those, it fitted in 2x ramekins (maybe mine are a bit small, but they're not half the size!).  In any case, grease the ramekins with your cooking spray and get ready to pre-heat your grill.

Dice the bread into pretty small chunks.  15g works out at about 1/4 slice of bread, so you can dice the lot and freeze the bits you don't use for another day.

Melt your spread in a warm pan.

Add the flour to the melted spread.

Mix thoroughly to a thick paste and cook for a minute before removing from the heat.

Gradually add the milk to the paste, stirring thoroughly each time, smaller amounts at first so you don't get any lumps, then you can add gradually greater amounts as it thins out more.  If you do end up with lumps early on, you can put the pan back on a low heat and let the mix thicken up a bit more - stirring all the time - and the mix will end up more consistent again, then you can take it off the heat  and carry on adding the milk again.

Once all the milk is mixed in, put the pan back on the heat and heat slowlyish back to just bubbling, stirring all the time until thickened.  It will look glossy, silky and a bit like custard only less yellow.

Now you can add the rest of the ingredients; first the lemon zest.

Then sweetcorn (if it was frozen, make sure it's defrosted before adding it).

Prawns (same applied to these).

Stir it all together and heat through thoroughly; add seasoning to taste.  Pre-heat your grill while you're doing this part.  Once the mixture is heated through, pour into the ramekin(s) and top with the diced bread.  Spray your cooking spray lightly over the top and place under the grill to toast the topping.

Remove from the grill, serve and enjoy!

I think these would be great little starters at a dinner party - they're light, tasty and pretty quick to make.  The fresh lemon zest and cooked-from-scratch roux make them all the nicer!

We have a winner!

My competition in partnership with Weight Watchers to win tickets to the Vitality Show has been won! The entrants were written down in order that they were received and each assigned a number in order, then the random number generator used to pick a number for the winner:-

Congratulations go to Bronagh, hope you enjoy the day and the goody bag (which will arrive after the show finishes)!

Red Nose Day?

Blimey, I hope I get to go home at a reasonable hour today. I've successfuly managed to avoid going to the gym despite temptation, but mostly due to the fact that it's still mentally busy at work. (I just had to explain to a supplier on the phone that we're not doing anything for Red Nose Day because we have utterly no sense of humour at the moment).  Really excited about Sunday's race now... first one of the year.

Oh, and don't forget to get your entries in for my Weight Watchers Vitality Show competition to win tickets and a goody bag!

FREE Vitality Show Tickets!

Don't forget to enter my Weight Watchers competition before friday; you could win free tickets to The Vitality Show 2011 and a bag of health and beauty goodies! (also details on how to get reduced rate tickets if you don't win).

Vitality Show Free Tickets - Weight Watchers competition

Having seen adverts on the tube and had a bit of a look at the web site, I was thinking of going to The Vitality Show this month.  It looked pretty interesting (and not just because James Martin is booked as a chef on the POM stand!).  It's all about health, fitness, good eating, good lifestyle, pampering and style.  So, when Weight Watchers approached me with a suggestion for a competition in partnership with them for people to win tickets to the show, it seemed perfect.  Right up my street.  So, I'm pleased to open the competition for one of you lovely people to win a pair of tickets to The Vitality Show...

What: The Vitality Show

Where: Earls Court, London

When: 24^th - 27^th March 2011

Are you ready to be WOWed? Weight Watchers are exhibiting at The Vitality Show 2011, from 24th- 27th March, at Earls Court London!  The Vitality Show is the UK’s largest health, beauty, fitness and wellbeing event for women. We have a pair of Vitality Show tickets and a gorgeous goodie bag, filled with health and beauty treats to give away.

All you have to do to enter the competition is answer the following question:

How many companies are attending The Vitality Show this year? 

A.     Over 300 

B.     Over 50

C.     Over 25

Don’t forget to visit us at the event on stand E130. Come down to sample our delicious range of Weight Watchers Foods, from scrumptious Muffins to refreshing Wine.  You can also pick up our April issue of the magazine, trial our iPhone app, and chat to our Leaders.

And for those of you who don’t win the free tickets we have an exclusive offer for you – get two tickets for £20!* Click here to book tickets http://www.vitalitylive.co.uk/the-show and enter the code 'BLOG' to redeem the offer. 

So, to enter the competition, all you need to do is send me an email (blog@totkat.org) with the subject line "Vitality Show Competition", including in the email your answer to the question (A, B or C) and a way for me to match your email to your screen name, then leave a comment on this post telling me that you have entered (if you're on Facebook, you can also "like" my Facebook page :o)).

Entry closes on 18th March 2011 at 10pm and the winner will be drawn at random on 19th March and announced once I have the winner's email address and postal address for Weight Watchers to send the tickets and goody bag.  The winner must send me their postal address by 6pm on 20th March in order to be able to get the prizes delivered in time.  In the event that the first person drawn is unable to provide their address by the deadline a second name will be drawn and the prizes offered to them.  Please make sure that you will be able to let me have your address in time after the winner is announced.

*Saving based on door price. Booking and transaction fees apply. To book tickets, visit www.vitalitylive.co.uk or call 0871 230 5569 and quote ‘BLOG’.

Weight Watchers Pro Points recipe books

For those WeightWatchers Pro Points fans, from Weight Watchers:-

"Oriental Express, is available to purchase from 28th February. The Seriously Satisfying cookbook was released in January. The Oriental Express cook book  is available at meetings and through At Home on 08456 788 999"

 So you can get the shiny new Oriental Express one now!

New recipe books - Weight Watchers Pro Points

I've been having loads of fun and success with the Abel and Cole recipe book and on Friday got a couple more recipe books to poke through.  This time they're new edition Weight Watchers ones, using the Pro Points system, so it means that the recipes are more focussed around higher protein, lower carb, higher fibre recipes to help give a nutritionally more even meal with consideration to lowering overall empty kcals than would normally be found in a "diet" recipe book.

The two books are "Seriously Satisfying"  and "Oriental Express" (so new you can't buy it just yet) and on first flick through I'm really very pleased to see that nearly every single recipe calls for nothing that's pre-made (no jars or pots of pastes or sauces bar one recipe which asks for Balti curry paste) and I've only seen one recipe out of all of them that calls specifically for a Weight Watchers product (low fat cream in one of the desserts).  "Oriental Express" is published in a nice, clever design of ring binding and a built in stand so you can prop it up easily in the kitchen when cooking, rather than leaning the thing against the toaster or kettle and having it slide down and get in the way during cooking.

I really love flipping through recipe books to get ideas so I'm probably going to spend some time this morning poring over these two and working out what I'm going to try for lunch tomorrow.  Maybe something fresh and salady that's not utterly boring.  We've got a hare (from Abel and Cole) to roast for dinner, so that's already sorted and I don't want to leave that until it's been hanging around in the fridge for ages and then has to be cooked in a hurry.

Winners!

The Weight Watchers Pro Points giveaway winners are tam and laura(*):-

Congratulations!  If you two ladies would like to drop me an email with the address you want me to send your prizes to, I'll get them packed off to you.

* - numbers were assigned in posting order: 1 LNR, 2 LNR's friend, 3 tam, 4 laura, 5 Linz M, 6 lovelydeane, 7 Rachel Edwards, 8 ~ Cee ~ (dog was not counted for obvious reasons)

Giveaway reminder!

The last day to comment is today (by 23:00 GMT)!  Comment on the giveaway post with why being a healthy weight is important to you and you could win some Weight Watchers goodies or a variety pack of teas.  Winners will be picked tomorrow and announced over the weekend.  Good luck!

Giveaway - Goody Bag from Weight Watchers

Following the Weight Watchers Pro Points post, I have a goody bag from Weight Watchers that I'm going to give away:-

• Weight Watchers magazine
• Pro Points starter pack
• Weight Watchers jam
• Weight Watchers mini bottle of wine
• Weight Watchers chocolate biscuits
• Cookery book by Weight Watchers
• Pro Points calculator
• Weight Watchers USB stick

All of these could be yours if you leave a comment on this post, by 12th November, telling me why being a healthy weight is important to you.

I'll choose the winner with a random number generator where the number will be assigned to an entrant based on the order in which comments are received.  First prize is the WW goody pack and there are a selection of individual teas as second prize.

Weight Watchers Pro Points

Weight Watchers has never featured on my radar.  Not even when I was losing weight.  Mostly because I hated the idea of meetings and weigh-ins.  I'm a loner when it comes to doing things for myself, I don't want help and not just because I'm proud but because I'm difficult and annoying and fussy.  So, Weight Watchers wasn't something I was ever going to join.

The other problem with Weight Watchers was the proprietary points system that seemed to me to be very restrictive; if it wasn't in the little look-up table, you pretty much couldn't have it as you'd have no idea how many points it would translate to.  Urgh!  Where's my control?  Now, not knowing anything about the advances in Weight Watchers to date I may be behind the times with the look-ups and given what I have in my Pro Points goody bag, I think there may have been an advance there with the Points calculator which allowed you to enter bits of information from the nutritional information of a food and it worked out the points from there.

So, now for the Pro Points system and the changes to the Weight Watchers plan.  This is pretty big, to be honest.  Calories are out of the window.  Points are still in, but in a very different way.  It'll be coming to Weight Watchers meetings from 7th November and the old points system will be no more.

Using 10 years of scientific research into nutrition, Weight Watchers have come up with an impressive new plan which stops using the 100 year old blunt instrument of calories and starts to do something a bit more clever.  It's been tested for over 2 years, including two randomised clinical trails, the results of which were not only general weight loss as expected but there were also improvements in health risk indicators like blood cholesterol.  And I was really glad that when I asked the question "how did the rate of weight loss compare with the old Points system?", the answer that came back was that that comparison was not done at all.  It was never going to be about losing weight faster or more efficiently, it was about doing it in a more informed, flexible and educated way with the emphasis being on foods that are cleaner/less processed and will help to keep people on the wagon as they'll not really get hungry as easily by making food choices that are based not purely on calorie content which can lead to blood sugar spikes and crashes.

It's the biggest Weight Watchers innovation in 15 years and 3 years in the making.  A new weight loss plan that is based on the available energy from food rather than the raw energy in food.  Taking into account the "conversion cost" of macro-nutrient types, the new Pro Points system not only makes more sense in terms of the energy a body is taking in, it also considers the satiety of foods as well.  While the counting of points isn't a departure from the old points system, the introduction of a weekly allowance is new.  As before you get a daily allowance based on weight, age and sex but in addition to that, there's a weekly "back pocket" allowance on top of that which you can dip into daily or save it all up for a splurge on one day if you want to.  The little calculator keeps track of your points on a daily and weekly basis and when you've got to goal you can flip the setting from "loss" to "maintenance" and still use it to help you with the initial bit of maintenance as you ease into your new points allowance, or longer term if you need it.


All of these changes add up to nudging people towards food choices that lead to feeling fuller for longer.  Marks and Spencer have already been using the macro-nutrient approach for their "Fuller For Longer" range, concentrating on protein and fibre in the recipes as they are harder to process - have a higher "conversion cost" - which leads to longer term satiety.  And the idea is that the small changes in food choices you make during the weight loss phase leads to longer term better choices after reaching your goal.  I'd love to say "it's all about informed choices" but then, isn't that always what a proper weight management diet was always about?

It's looking really quite good for getting people to lean towards cleaner foods.  I think that processed foods will generally score high on the Pro Points scale as they tend to have higher proportions of carbohydrate and fat vs protein and fibre.  And although almost all fruit and vegetables are still rated zero on the points system and there is definitely energy to be derived from those, it's still going to help with weight loss, maintenance and healthier choices in the long term.  It's also looking good for starting to get people away from thinking purely in terms of calories which has been at the forefront of bad "diet" foods; foods where the reduction of fat (usually) or carbohydrate (on occasion) is at the cost of the natural state of the ingredients.  And the cool thing for me was the little Pro Points calculator that you just have to enter the protein, fat, carbohydrate and fibre off the label of a food packet and it tells you the points in that food.  The only thing I didn't find out about was the points relating to alcohol - it has zero nutritional value, so it'll be good to know about that bit.

For a mass-market weight loss system, Pro Points really does look like quite a good choice.  It's still not faddy; no only eating green foods on a Tuesday or no carbohydrate after 6pm etc.  It's getting away from calories, which have grated for me for a while now as I'd been thinking about the fact that some guy burning a peanut to heat up some water really bears no relation to how my body processes a peanut.  It's helping lead people to informed choice - helping with leaning towards cleaner food, choosing less processed food in the understanding of satiety and nutritional value.  It's helping change habits for life - more clever choices with food but realistic ones for long term maintenance.  It'll be interesting to see the impact of this on supermarkets and other food industry companies.  Marks and Spencer have already dipped a toe into the land of macro-nutrient based weight management products, let's see what the others do.

Weight Watchers Pro Points demo

I day on Pro Points without dipping in to the weekly "back pocket" points allowance.

 

Edit:- This was the table demo of a typical day's food on the new Pro Points system during the weight loss phase.  3 Meals, 3 snacks and that includes a bottle of beer!

Still not logging

I've not logged my food since 17th September.  The first 2 weeks of that was because I was on holiday, but since I've been back I've stayed off it.

For a control freak like me, this was theoretically hard.  And for the first week or two after the holidays it definitely made me a bit twitchy.  What's kept me going and not freaking out so far has been the fact that my cycling has been very random - one week saw 4x return journeys to work, whereas last week and this week it's been zero for various reasons.  That alone means that the transit food weight is all over the place so I have no idea whether I'm slightly gaining weight or staying stable in the grand scheme of things.  Of course, my clothes fit fine (and given that most of my work clothes are very fitted shift dresses, I'd notice any even slight size change there) .  So.  The plan is to keep going with not logging for at least a total of 3 months to get some good data.  OK, yes, Christmas is in that 3 months, but... I've never really been one for over-doing it particularly around Christmas and seeing as Christmas is pretty much cancelled for me this year (work is a bit nuts) it shouldn't be a particularly difficult eating season at all.  I'm figuring that as long as I put in a minimum of 2x weights sessions per week, aim for 3 and cycle in to work for at least some of the Winter I'll be doing fine.

Now for the fun bit... I'm off to a product launch tomorrow with Weight Watchers.  Anyone else going?  I'll report back, of course, but it'd be great to hook up if any of you guys are also going to be there!