Peg's Chicken Chilli Baked Potato
In previous chapters, Dr. Hirsch discussed Level I of the Sensa Weight-loss System, which is the use of the tastants themselves, the Sensa Tastants System. By sprinkling Sensa on everything you eat, you will have a successful program without deprivation or restrictions.
Level II is the Sensa Satiety System. This system is designed to increase the pace of your weight-loss. Once you begin to lose weight, you are motivated to make further adjustments and do more to speed up the weight-loss. Researchers have found that some foods offer more satisfaction than others, even if they have the same calorie count. Step one is to substitute high satiety foods for the lower ones. For example an orange has almost twice the satisfaction (satiety) of a banana. Meaning it will fill you faster and keep you full longer. If you are and bacon and egg breakfast eater, you will find a bowl of oatmeal will fill you up and keep you full longer, causing you to possibly skip a mid morning snack and eat half as much as lunch.
Being educated about how our bodies react to food to make our bodies satisfied, will help us lose weight and become healthier. In addition, we need to eat slower, and eat foods that take more energy to burn. For example, hot foods burn more energy than cold foods, as well as foods with high liquid content (soups & fruits).
By adding high satiey receipes into our diet, we will feel more satisfied with less food.
I tried one of the receipes in the book….Baked Potatoes with Chili. I did put my own twist on it. Instead of using sirloin, I used chicken, added a few beans, and chipolte seasoning. In addition, I sprinkled some fresh green onion on top. I will call it Baked Potatoes with with Chicken Chilpolte Chili. It was delicious and so filling. Honestly, I was full at the halfway point, took a coupe more bites and had to give the rest to my husband. He loves it when that happens! He gets his portion and part of mine! He is tall and thin, so can always use the extra calories. This week I am going to try the Chinatown Fried Rice!
Til next chapter……….
peggems
In this chapter the first thing we do is learn that Sensa is the “missing link” of weight loss programs and that we have just found a way to lose weight without the pain and deprivation and all the pleasure of lossing weight. Now that we are more motivated we want to add more things to do to help our weight loss progress further. As we see all kinds of positive things happen in our lifes and with our bodies we want to start living a healthier lifestyle and do things to enhance where we are at this point. That is when we told that Dr. Hirsch has designed two additional levels for us.
Level 2 is a two-part graduated system. The first step is to learn how to substitute foods we are already eating with higher satiety foods. We see many examples of the way a person eats and why they aren’t staying sated with their choices and how they could have made some better choices if they knew how to use The Satiety Index. There is a chart with foods that are compared to a slice of white bread and the degree that they will make you feel and stay full. We learn that fatty energy dense foods have a very low satiety level. It is also recommended that we slow down while eating annd eat foods that require more of an effort to consume. Hot instead of cold, whole fruits instead of juices, spaghetti instead of tortellini. We are eating simply to feel satisfied with minor changes in what you choose.
Now we move to step 2 High Satiety Recipes. There are several recipes for breakfast, I made the Apple-Spice Oatmeal which was wonderful – the apples taste like baked apples in your oatmeal and I did add a teaspoon of raisins.
Cheryl's Oatmeal
Then for lunch I made the Hearty Bean and Pasta Soup, which makes enough for me to put some up for lunches for the week if I can keep it away from the rest of the family.
Cheryl's Hearty Bean and Pasta Soup
The dinner recipes Igot the ingredients to make the Baked Potatoes with Chili but haven’t made that yet. I have included pictures of the oatmeal and the soup and of my grandchildren and I eating the soup.
The last part of the book gives a 2 week High Satiety Menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner and tells you to keep fresh fruit on hand for snacks with some yogurt and to have a salad with lots of veggies for a side dish to get enough servings of veggies into our diets. This chapter takes us to the next level of controling the amounts of foods we eat while staying satsified longer and eating healthier choices. We will be learning about Step 3 in the next chapter so stay tuned for the final step in the program to bring all of this
together for a really healthier life style change that can be a life long way to stay healthy and maintain our weight. Each step is there when you are ready to start them you can take your time to get thru each step and move on when you are ready to so that you can make the changes at your pace so they will be a permanent part of your new lifestyle.
Moondragon52/Cheryl
Sprinkling!
Cheryl's family loves the soup
My husband and I love chili, especially on a cold winter’s night, so I decided to try the Baked Potatoes with Chili recipe. I made a triple batch of the chili on Friday night and we ate just the chili with some baked tortilla chips, light sour cream and 2% shredded cheese. Since we both like our chili a little spicier and with beans, I made a few modifications to an already great recipe. I added two cans of stewed mexican style tomatoes, two cans of red beans, and some jalepeno peppers to this recipe. Beans are a great source of fiber and also helps to keep you fuller longer. This chili recipe was absolutely delicious.
Deb's Baked Potato
The next day for lunch, I baked two nice medium potatoes, poured some of the leftover chili over them, added some shredded cheese and onions and this meal was so hard to beat for a warm, nutritious filling lunch. My husband said that was the best meal he has had in a long time and we both cleaned our plates.
If you want something to warm you up, fill you up and is easy to make (it took all of 20 minutes to make the chili), this is a recipe for you.
Enjoy!!!
Sweetpea
Blog – Level 2: The Sensa Satiety System by Cellofan (Mair)
Level 1 of the Sensa program focuses on sprinkling the foods you’ve always eaten with Sensa. The next level introduces a satiety index, pointing out that certain foods help you feel sated, or full, for much longer than others. For instance, 240 calories of brown pasta will make you feel nearly twice as sated as 240 calories of white bread. I knew that whole grain bread and pasta are more filling than their white flour equivalents but I was surprised to learn that apples and oranges were considerably higher satiety than bananas. Level 2 presents a list of high-satiety foods, recipes using those foods, and a 2-week high-satiety menu to help you incorporate those foods into your diet. I had fun this weekend trying out the recipes for Cottage Cheese Pancakes and Whole Wheat Macaroni and Cheese.
Mair with cottage cheese pancakes
Cottage Cheese PancakesI was still full from these tasty little treats when we sat down to lunch 4 hours later. They seem more moist and filling than regular pancakes. I had 3 ½ pancakes (one broke so it became the sample while the others were cooking) out of the 12 the recipe yielded but 3 probably would have been enough. I found the pancakes set and cooked better at medium-high heat than the medium heat listed in the recipe. I made the “sweet” version using the recommended sugar and cinnamon in the batter and served them with pure maple syrup, which worked well. I think they’d also be really nice with applesauce as well. They reheated well in the microwave the following day. Next time I plan to try the savory version, swapping the cinnamon and sugar for scallions and herbs.
Cottage cheese pancakes
Whole Wheat Macaroni and Cheese This dish is easy to make and very filling. It felt decadent to use real butter to grease the pan and mix with the bread crumbs. The result was very rich tasting. I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat rotini (one of the few places that still sells a 16 oz. bag), Cracker Barrel extra-sharp cheddar with 2% milk (doesn’t taste low-cal) and 4C Seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs. I used my food processor to shred the cheese and then used it again to blend the filling. By the time the pasta was done cooking, I had everything else ready. Start to finish, it took only about 45 minutes to prepare. My husband really liked it and immediately asked for seconds. I served the mac and cheese with Brussels sprouts and roasted red peppers and onions. The colors looked really nice together and created a well balanced, very filling meal.
Mair with whole wheat macaroni and cheese
Evan (Hubby) w/ macaroni and cheese served w/ brussels sprouts, roasted red peppers & onions
Yum. Can’t wait to try out more of the recipes.
For this chapter, we were asked to either make one of the recipes or to make one of our own using the book as a guideline. I decided to make two of the recipes so that I could better evaluate how the recipes are to get a fair comparison.
Dave's Pot Pie
The first recipe I tried was a dinner. Normally when we make something from a recipe that we have not tried before or have not seen any reviews on we will try to make it as the recipe states and then perhaps add a few more spices to it for our own twist. This recipe I decided to go ahead and make it as it said with an exception, as I will tell you later. We made the Chicken Pot Pie with Garlicky Potato Topping. It took us a little bit longer to make this from what the directions said, took about 1-½ hours from start to finish. The recipe called for 1 lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs, didn’t have that but did have a ½ chicken. Put the chicken in water and added spices and cooked till done which also gave me the chicken broth although canned chicken broth was called for. Removed the skin and deboned when done and cut into bite sized pieces. All other ingredients were used and the meal was good and very filling. The only problem we did have was that it did not brown like it said in the directions after cooking in the oven, so when the time was up, tried another 5 minutes to recipe and still did not brown. Turned on broiler and it browned perfectly. Did have to add more salt and pepper after it was served since it was a little bland. Plan on making this again with the addition of a few more spices like poultry seasoning and perhaps a can of diced mild green chilies or 6 fresh chopped Anaheim chilies.
The next recipe I tried was a breakfast recipe. I have oatmeal everyday during the weekdays and thought this one would be perfect. I made the Apple Spice Oatmeal. I thought is very good and will probably make it often since it is quick and easy to make. Two things I did have to change was I substituted ground nutmeg in place of ground ginger since that is what I had. I also used ¼ of diced apple instead of ½ apple because it just looked like to much apple for one serving and I thought ¼ was just right. This had a very good flavor and the apple gave it a sweet taste and a little crunchy.
Dave's Oatmeal
Reading the success stories of some of the users of Sensa was a great way to see how Sensa can change our lives. There was so much I could identify with in each story. The weight gains from each pregnancy, losing most of it then getting pregnant again, gaining more weight and then losing again but keeping a couple of pounds each time. Martha O. was one of the ones I really could understand. She struggled through a divorce, then moved to a new country feeling isolated and a lone she turned to food as her only comfort. She talked about how people have a misconception of overweight people not eating healthy or exercising. When quite often they do enjoy healthy eating and exercising, they just don’t have a good conception of portion control. Her concern with giving her daughter a healthy idea of portion control and healthy eating hit home as I have three teenager grandchildren living with me who I want to help never have my weight problems.
I am 57 years old, the mother of three and the grandmother of seven. We are raising three of our grandchildren ages 13, 15, and 17 years old. I have been struggling with weight problems since my first pregnancy. After each pregnancy I had an extra 3 or 4 pounds that just hung around. I had gained more weight after my second child was born and I was going through a divorce and was feeling really depressed giving birth alone and having two children to raise alone. I went into the Air Force and got back down to a good weight and then I meant my husband and had my third child gaining a hugh amount of weight and keeping an extra 10 pounds I just couldn’t seem to lose after her birth. I finished my 4 years in the Air Force and became a secretary for awhile and gained more weight sitting behind a desk all day. That seemed to be the theme of my life up to menopause each year I gained 10 or more pounds that just seemed to want to hang around. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in my late 30’s but my doctor said “it wasn’t bad enough to require medication at this time” and I continued to gain weight and had more trouble taking it off. We moved and I changed doctors and my new doctor was shocked I wasn’t on any kind of thyroid treatment. He started treatment and I lost some weight but still struggled and he kept adjusting my meds. I then changed doctors again as I
started going to the VA clinic for my medical care. My new doctor said my treatments were good but I needed a higher dose of synthroid and she increased it and has had to increase it several times over the last few years. By this time I was at my highest weight ever, I had hit the top weight of 416 pounds. I started losing some weight on my own after her last increase of meds and my trying different diets (hate that word). I started the M.O.V.E. program that the VA offers for overweight patients. It teaches you portion control, nutrition, and gives you a diet of deprivation to live with for the rest of your live. The same ideas that the weight lose indurstry has been shoving down our throats for years. I am very good at dieting but I become sad and sometimes even mean and grouchy as I see others enjoy a good meal I am not allowed to have. I started the M.O.V.E. program the first part of July and had lost about 10 pounds by the time I found Sensa. I was down to 406.6 pounds and was struggling to maintain that lose.
I was flipping through channels when I came upon the program on shopNBC for Sensa. I stopped to listen to this new way of losing weight and was watching it with my Granddaughter. We watched it for awhile and I decided to turn the channel because I told her this is just another program I can fail at. My darling Granddaughter told me “Grandma, you never failed on those programs, they failed you. Please try this because I don’t think it will fail you!!” So my journey with Sensa began. I had 266.6 pounds to lose and lost 23.6 pounds the first 8 weeks with 21.6 of those in the first month. I have now been on Sensa for 17 weeks and I am down 34.8 pounds which is a little over 2 pounds per week. I have been enjoying the meal program that can be found in the book and on the Sensa forums and I never feel deprived of anything. I can chose what I want to eat as long as I sprinkle, but I don’t desire alot of the unhealthy foods I use to eat and my cravings for sweets has all but vanished.
Sensa is my success story!! I will be using it for a fairly long time as I have so much weight to take off, but I now know I will achieve my goals with the support of the forums and with Sensa. Sensa is not a diet it is a whole new way of life that is based on sound science and research. I feel I will never have to struggle again as long as I have Sensa to help me through my journey. Sensa is teaching a new way of being satisfied with the foods I eat and doing it with a smaller portion of food. I make better choices that are more filling and am happier and healthier than ever.
I have included a before picture of me, the day I started Sensa on Sept. 3, 2009. I will be updating my pictures on the Sensa site for every 10% of my body weight I will post new pictures to show my progress with the Sensa program.
Moondragon52/Cheryl
Moondragon52
Moondragon in Progress Nov 2009
I’m 55 and have tried many diets in the past with little results. After reading Dr. Hirsh’s book the person I think I most identify with is Josh Z. He said that he was tired of being the guy not being able to go to the beach or go to a swimming pool without feeling embarrassed. I too have felt that way and avoided going swimming at public places although I love to swim.
About 5 months ago I was reading an article on the internet and those side bar ads came up and one caught my eye about losing weight without changing your eating habits. I thought yea sure, how is that gonna work, so I read the ad and it sounded too good to be true. I closed the ad and went on to what I was doing. About an hour later it stayed in my mind and I went back to it and it said that there was a 30 day trial period, still thought that was interesting but closed it and went back to what I was doing. It stayed on my mind all day and through the next day. I had forgotten what the product was the next day and went into my history to see if I could find it. Found the article I was reading and there was that ad again. I read it again and it really made me think. I went home from work that day and told my wife about it and told her I am tired of being fat plus our youngest daughter had just told us that she was going to get married in about 10 months. I thought I must do something so I don’t look ridicules in a tuxedo for her wedding. So I thought what the heck, if this doesn’t work in 30 days, it is going back like others in the past and that was 5 months ago. That ad that I just happened to come upon was the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.
I have now lost 24 lbs, I am able to eat the foods I always have, and the only difference is the amounts have been greatly reduced thanks to Sensa. It took me about 4 days to see the difference in my eating. I have been increasing my exercise the last 2 months have went from a size XXL shirt which I have been in for about 14 years and have lost one pants size from size 40 to 38 which has been about the same time as my shirts.
This is the easiest diet I have ever been on. I have used the package diets and the foods were fair and got tired of them. I have been on others where I took many supplements, food additions, and could only eat certain store bought foods, the program was extremely expensive. With these diets I had lost some weight but soon got tired of the strict requirements. After each diet, I would then eat the foods that I had missed while on these and ended up gaining back the weight plus more.
With Sensa, I have not changed the foods I eat, my cravings for chips and junk food by itself. This seems to be part of what Sensa also does, you don’t have to even try to eat healthy, and it comes all by itself. I used to drink lots of sodas and always had chips in the house, I have not had the desire for any of it in about 4 months. The best thing about using Sensa is that I am not pressured by anyone but my own desire to lose weight. I do belong to a support group on Sensa’s web site that has been a very big help. If it weren’t for these groups, I would just use Sensa but would not get the information these groups have to offer. I still have another 44 lbs to go and with Sensa it will be easy.
Dave T before Sensa July 09
Dave T Week 16 of Sensa
I identified with something in most of the success stories listed but the one that spoke to me the most was Josh Z. when he said he was tired of being the fat guy at the beach or the person at the swim party who didn’t want to jump into the pool. It’s very disheartening when you’re the type of person who enjoys being around people but you hold back because you’re ashamed of being so overweight, especially in situations involving bathing suits or sports. It becomes a vicious cycle – you’re self-conscious about your weight so you sit on the sidelines and eat that much more while everyone else is running around having a good time. I hate the idea of my weight limiting what I can or cannot do and Sensa is helping me to remove some of those barriers.
Cellofan Before
This past May, I was travelling to Phoenix for a wedding and remembered that a friend of mine had said she always wanted to visit Grand Canyon and some of the other national parks. She agreed to meet me in Phoenix and we planned a wonderful 10-day excursion to several parks. She called one day in April, very excited, and said “let’s do a mule ride down Grand Canyon – I’ve always wanted to do that.” I had to tell her that I knew, from previous experience, that the weight limit was 200 pounds and there was no way I was even close. She was obviously disappointed but agreed there were lots of other fun things we’d be doing. It was even more embarrassing when she called a week later and said “I found a place near Bryce Canyon where we can rent horses and don’t worry, the weight limit there is 225.” Well, I was about 240 at the time so that wasn’t going to happen either. We had a great trip but I would have loved to do either or both of those rides and I hated the fact that I was too big a cargo for a mule or horse to carry. When I heard the Sensa ad on the radio a couple months later, being too big for these excursions was one of the things that flashed through my mind.
I was in a particularly bad food phase in August, feeling sorry for myself because I had been aquacising pretty regularly but not losing weight. The fact that I was eating lots of pizza and ice cream (a couple half gallons a week) obviously wasn’t helping. My sister had had emergency surgery a few days earlier and I was driving home from cleaning her apartment (she had gotten an infection so it had to be really clean) and the drawstring on my shorts had broken as I was leaving the pizza place. I had to tuck my shorts into my bra to keep them from falling down and I looked like one of the nerds that Bill Murray or Gilda Radnor used to play on Saturday Night Live many years ago. I was feeling lower than low and was stuck in traffic for an hour on the way home when I heard the Sensa ad on the radio. I was very skeptical and thought it sounded too good to be true. I told myself that I had tried everything else so I might as well try this too so I called and signed up for the free trial while I was sitting in traffic.
Cellofan After
Boy, am I happy I made that call! I just completed four months on Sensa and I have lost a little over 24 pounds and 12 inches. In the past, I thought about food all the time. Sometimes, I’d be in the middle of eating a meal and would already be thinking about “how long do I have to wait before I can have ice cream again.” I also had a serious sweet tooth and always wanted something sweet to end a meal. Sensa was like a big linebacker tackling my sweet cravings. I still enjoy sweets but they have much less of a grip on me. If we had dark chocolate in the house before, I would be obsessed with it, thinking about it all the time until it was gone. Someone gave us a bag of dark chocolate raspberry squares for Christmas (a real favorite) and she and my husband ate the whole bag over a couple days without me having any. I just didn’t care that much about it. That’s never happened to me before. Even when I do have sweets, I’m satisfied with a lot less. My sister-in-law’s Christmas Eve extravaganza had 15 dessert selections (I counted). I had 2 mini cannolis, a chocolate cherry cookie and about 1 inch of fudge and it was more than enough. They used to count on me eating about a dozen mini cannolis alone.
Like Josh, Sensa is now an integral part of my life and I’m beginning to feel like I can do more. Instead of asking my husband for a special dinner or theater tickets for Christmas, I asked for a couple sessions with a personal trainer so I can step up my exercise routine. He came through like a champ so now it’s up to me to make my first appointment and get started. I’m excited and a little scared but I’ll be making that call very soon. Next time I visit the Grand Canyon, I want to be riding on an ass instead of sitting on the sidelines feeling like one.
Chapter 9 was such an awesome chapter to read. It is filled with page after page of sensa-tional success stories. There are the stories of both men and women differing in ages and weights. These are stories of inspiration and they give you hope. If I had to pick one person I most closely identified with, it is Gaylene. The reason I identified with Gaylene goes beyond the physical attributes (she is 5′6, I am 5′, she is 55, I am 47, her highest weight was 187, mine was 159). I identified with Gaylene because of her mindset, her attitude, both towards life and Sensa. The one thing Gaylene said that really stuck in my mind is “life is too short”. You want to be able to eat the foods you want, have a glass of wine occasionally with a slice of pizza and not have to worry about “cheating”. You can do that with Sensa. You eat your own foods, anything you want, you do not have to exercise to see results (another thing I have in common with Gaylene – just stay too busy to have an exercise “routine”). With Sensa, it really is as easy as we have been saying. You sprinkle your food, you stop when you feel full. That IS it. The one thing that is most important to remember about Sensa is that it is not a quick weight loss gimmick, it is not a fad diet, heck, it’s not even a diet. I have taken the word “diet” out of my life, just as I have hidden my scales. Sensa creates a lifestyle change. Although both Gaylene and myself have experienced frustration, we have stayed with Sensa, knowing the changes were happening, maybe not as fast we wanted them to, but they were happening. And it wasn’t all changes on the scale, it was changes in our bodies, changes in the way our clothing fit. Weight loss is not just about a number on the scale. It is about attitude, it is about feeling healthy, it is about eating healthy, it is about holding your head high and feeling at peace with yourself again. Sensa will give you all of these, if you’ll make the commitment to yourself.
I am so proud of all of the Sensa success stories. Not just in the book, but also on the sensa community website. I have met so many amazing people that are and have lost weight using the Sensa Weight Loss System. And my goal is to be one of them in the near future. I hope you join me!
Til Next Time – Deborah/Sweetpea
This week the Sensa Book Club Bloggers read chapter 9 of Dr. Hirsch’s “Sensa Weight-loss Program. Here we find several success stories. I mostly closely identified with Josh’s story, I too didn’t want to go to the beach or the pool (though I absolutely love the water and swimming) because I didn’t want to be the fat girl in the bathing suit! I also identify with Josh on the lifetime of yo-yo diets and not being able to stick witha program for any length of time. Josh has also learned portion control (as I have) with Sensa, am more aware of what I am eating and have lost cravings.
Josh has lost 53 pounds (I have lost 52) and he has 40 more to go. I have about 60.
Sensa has changed my life. When I started sprinkling 10 months ago, I had totally isloated myself. I never went out, had no friends, and I was eating myself to death. I had lost my entire family (parents and siblings) to cancer and was totally devasted. I was at the lowest point of my life when I saw Sensa on TV. Somehow I just knew this product could help me. I will never regret the day I picked up the phone and ordered Sensa. I lost 12 pounds the first month, lost cravings, and began to get back into the flow of life. It is amazing how this product decreases your appetite, yet you are never deprived or hungry, This makes it so easy to stick too.
At the age of 59, the hope of losing weight was lost forever (I thought!). Sensa changed all that. There is absolutely no struggle, no deprivation, no hunger, no special foods, and no cravings. I don’t see Sensa as a quick weight loss program. But I do see it as a permanent solution to losing those pounds and keeping them off. It is not a temporary change to lose weight…..Sensa makes a permanent change that causes the pounds off and keeps them off.
I hope Dr. Hirsch will do a long study with people that have more than 100 pounds to lose. I know many of us are in that boat and are greatful for a product that can help us get to a healthier life without surgery or drastic liquid diets. That is also another benefit of Sensa….there are no side effects and no risks to your life or health.
If you are still haven’t ordered Sensa, do yourself a favor and start out the New Year with Sensa. Your dreams of being healthy and fit will come true with this awesome product.
best on your journey,
peg
p.s. Here is a pic of my one of after dresses (size 12), ten sizes smaller than when I started Sensa.
Size 12 Dress!