WEIGHT LOSS ADVISOR BLOG

Ingredients
2 servings

2 egg whites (or ¼ cup egg substitute)
¼ cup of skim milk
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of sweetener (like Splenda)
1 ripe banana
4 slices light whole-wheat bread
4 tablespoons of reduced-calorie maple syrup (it’s optional)

Preparation
Use blender to mix together the egg whites, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, sweetener, and banana for about 1 minute, until smooth. Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl.

Cooking
Lightly coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place it over medium heat. Dip the bread slices into the mixture and place them into the skillet. Cook until each side becomes golden brown (about 1 to 2 minutes per side).

Serving
You can top the toasts with 2 tablespoons of reduced-calorie maple syrup if you like and serve immediately.

It all takes about 15 minutes. I wish you bon appetite!

Do you know what the best way is to cut carbs from your diet? It is simple - just substitute the high carb foods from your diet for healthy low carb alternatives. This is a very smart thing to do and you’ll benefit greatly from it. That’s what Dr. Arthur Agatston advises (he’s the author of the South Beach Diet).

The lower carb alternatives you gonna use should have identical taste as the original high carb foods. You will be very nicely surprised to find out that many of them actually taste better than the original high carb dishes.

Sandwich

You can substitute Chinese and Napa cabbage for bread. This way you eliminate 29 grams of carbs per sandwich.

Use one leaf of the cabbage and roll it up with your favorite filling and if you like you can dip it in low-fat mayo. Delicious.

Pizza

You can substitute Portobello mushroom for pizza crust. This way you eliminate 20 grams of carbs per pizza slice.

Cut the mushroom gills out and place the mushroom on an oiled cookie sheet and bake until it dries out a little. Add you favorite pizza topping (my favorite is tomato sauce, ham and sweet corn). Mmm, I got hungry

Pancakes

You can substitute Oatmeal and cottage cheese for pancake mix. This way you eliminate 45 grams of carbs per pancake.

Mix 2 eggs, ¼ cup of the cottage cheese and ½ cup of the oatmeal. Add vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon
(you know the benefits of cinnamon). Make the mixture smooth and cook it like you do with the regular pancakes. I am going to try this immediately.

Hello to everybody who’s been asking these particular questions for some times now:

1. Is cinnamon bad for the liver and the kidneys?

Coumarin is a chemical compound contained in Cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum – aka Chinese Cinnamon) and is known to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations. True Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum – aka Ceylon Cinnamon) has negligible amounts of Coumarin, so no worries here folks as long as you use the True Cinnamon.

Coumarin toxicity is 275 mg/kg, which is relatively low compared to related chemical compounds. We humans are able to largely metabolize Coumarin to a compound that is of lower toxicity.

Also pay attention to the key phrase here “high concentrations” – half teaspoon a day is not high concentration. So if you’ve been using a half teaspoon of Cassia to prepare the drink, instead of the Ceylon Cinnamon, you don’t have to be worried, just try to find true cinnamon.

2. How long should I take it?

Important notice: You should not over use the honey and cinnamon drink, meaning you can’t use it forever.
If you reach your weight goal within a couple of weeks or a month – that’s fantastic. If you need more time, just use it for about 2 to 4 months tops.

3. Should the honey be added after half an hour (when the water cools)?

I know that in my original post I wrote to make a paste from the honey and the cinnamon powder and then to poor the hot water in the cup. However, I should agree with that the honey is better to be added after the water and cinnamon mix cools (in about half an hour).

When I started my cinnamon recipes section month and a half ago I didn’t expect so many people would show interest in it. Now a few weeks later I shall continue with more cinnamon recipes for tasty and healthy desserts.

Cinnamon Oranges

This is a very simple dessert that can be prepared easily any time of the year. Takes only 10 minutes to prepare and serve. As you might be guessing oranges taste best in the winter when they are at their peak, hence the cinnamon orange dessert will have better flavor if prepared in the winter. Lucky you, cause you can try it immediately and it will taste best.

Ingredients:
4 servings

4 navel oranges
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar or (1-2) tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Peel the oranges and remove the white pith from them. Use sharp knife to cut each orange into 5 or 6 slices and arrange them on 4 plates. Mix the orange and lemon juices, add the sugar and cinnamon and whisk. Poor 1 spoon over each orange slice pile and you are ready to serve.

Variation:

Instead of 1 tablespoon of sugar you can use (1-2) tablespoons of honey.

Nutrition Facts:

This dessert is low in calories, sodium, and cholesterol with 86 calories, 2 mg sodium, no cholesterol, no fat, 1 g protein, 3 g fiber, and 258 mg potassium per serving.
Rich in Vitamin C - you get 150% of you daily value. Good for the heart.

Bon Appetit!

Honestly since honey and cinnamon for weight loss has become my most popular post, I think cinnamon and honey have become my little obsession (in the good meaning of the word).

Every time I was looking for cinnamon recipes I turned out that almost all cinnamon recipe also needed honey. Strange isn’t it, but having in mind the great weight loss mixture they make, it is not so surprising after all.

Well, this is exactly what happened the last time I was searching for cinnamon recipes, in particularly for cinnamon baked apples:

I found a few very similar recipes all with the same ingredients but with different preparation methods. Anyway, I just though finally I found a recipe with cinnamon and no honey, when all of a sudden it turned out that the last recipe needed a honey topping just before serving. It sounded so tempting and easy that I not only had great time preparing them, but also had an amazing experience eating them

The great news for all dieting people is that you get a nutrition bonus with every baked apple you eat – 20% of your average daily fiber intake. This makes this delicious side dish a great source of fibers. But that’s not all – you also get the cinnamon and honey mixture (not as a drink this time). Well, the amounts of honey and cinnamon here are way lower than the amounts in the drink, but yet they work the same way, after all the cinnamon, honey and apple are all healthy, right

Here is the cinnamon – honey – apple recipe:

Ingredients
4 servings

4 apples (large red ones would be great)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
Ground cinnamon for sprinkle
Water – small amount

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 350F ~ 180C.

Wash the apples and cut a hole in top of each apple (remove the core with a knife or an apple corer and leave the bottom intact). Clean out the hole and fill each one with 1 tbsp of brown sugar.

Transfer the apples to a baking dish and sprinkle the cinnamon on top of each apple. Poor small amount of water in the baking dish – this will keep apples from drying up during the baking process. Do not cover the top of the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until apples get soft.

Serving

Remove from oven. Let them cool for a while and then drop a teaspoon of honey on top of each apple just before serving. Enjoy!

Variation

You can use wine instead of water. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour.

My opinion

I think one hour for covered with foil pan is too much time, but after all I haven’t tried this one. 30 minutes in non-covered pan were just enough for my cinnamon baked apples to get soft and ready to eat.

And what is your opinion? Are you willing to try this recipe?

It’s well known that today’s secret of most men and women for successful weight loss and maintenance is the Medifast weight loss program.

Its most popular and effective meal plan is the Medifast 5 & 1 weight loss plan that helps you lose weight quickly and safely - up to 20 lbs. in 30 days.

Read more about Medifast benefits in Medifast Diet Review

Let’s reveal the secrets of Medifast Diet meal plan to successful weight loss:

5 & 1 diet meal plan

Typical weight loss of 2 to 5 pounds per week while on 5 and 1 diet meal plan. The calorie count varies between 800 to 1000 per day and is recommended for most people who really want to lose weight.

Each day you eat 5 Medifast meals plus 1 “lean and green” meal. It is better to plan them 2 to 3 hours apart throughout the whole day – do not left all for the evening.

You can use any of the Medifast products to plan your own diet meals. However, the Medifast team offers you a list of example 5 & 1 meal plans, which you can download from their download section.

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The Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 head cabbage (chopped)
• 6 large onions (chopped)
• 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (chopped)
• 2 green peppers (chopped)
• 3 carrots (chopped)
• 1 bunch of celery
• 10 oz. of mushrooms (thick sliced)
• beef or chicken bouillon
• 12 cups of water
• salt, pepper, parsley

Cooking

Sauté the onions in a pot with cooking spray; add the green peppers, cabbage, carrots and mushrooms.

Add the bouillon cubes and about 12 cups of water (if you don’t use bouillon cubes, season with parsley, salt and pepper to taste), cover the pot and simmer for at least two hours.

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As I promised in my previous post, in this one I will share with you an interesting fact, I found a few days ago, about cinnamon weight loss effect.

As you can see from my post title the cinnamon weight loss effect is combined with honey in a delicious mixture, which recipe I am just about to tell you:

Ingredients

• half teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1 cup of boiling water

Preparation

Mix the cinnamon and honey in the cup and make a paste. Add the boiling water and cover the cup for half an hour. Stir the mixture water and filter it. Wait until it cools enough for drinking and it’s ready.

“Serving” - I couldn’t think of a better word

Take one half of the drink before breakfast and the other half after dinner, before going to bed.

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Today I will finish my bean recipes series with a couple of delicious bean desserts. I hope you’ll like them.

Black Bean Dessert

6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb black beans (soaked overnight in water)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 lb brown sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 cloves
• 1 ½ tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted)

Cooking guidelines

Discard the soaking water and boil the beans until become soft.

Mash the beans and place in a medium sized pan. Add the milk, sugar, cinnamon and cloves.

Take to medium heat stirring constantly until thickened and remove from heat.

Take out cinnamon sticks and cloves. Stir in 1 tablespoon sesame seeds.

Transfer to a bowl and top with remaining sesame seeds.

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Green Bean Casserole – Classic

6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 (16 oz) cans cut green beans (drained)
• 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 (2.8 oz) can French Fried Onions 
• salt and pepper to your taste

Cooking guidelines

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the beans, soup, milk and half the onions, add salt and pepper to taste.

Bake in a medium sized casserole for about 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Top with remaining onions and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until onions are golden.

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