The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[LongWay2go]

Hi guys & gals!

I thought I'd pass along some info about salad dressings, for those who can eat! I "discovered" Walden Farms dressings back when I was on a modified plan a couple of years ago. They are calorie free, fat free, cholesterol free, carb free and sugar free! No, I'm not kidding! And most of them are GOOD!

You may be able to find some of their flavors in your local market, but you can also order online at www.waldenfarms.com

Here is a list of their Salad Dressing flavors:

Oriental
Bacon Ranch
Russian
Thousand Island
Classico Italian
Creamy Bleu Cheese
Ranch
Honey Dijon
Italian w/Sun Dried Tomato
Original Caesar
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Country Italian
Creamy Bacon
French

AND they have other things, like sauces, also calorie free:

Pasta Sauce -
Alfredo
Marinara
Scampi

Barbeque Sauce -
Original
Honey
Thick n Spicy
Hickory Smoked

Additional Sauce -
Ketchup
Seafood

So check them out if you're eating. You won't regret it. If you want my opinion of the different flavors just say so. I didn't want this post to burn off a whole MF shake!

- Gerald

[Nancy]

Thanks Chef Gerald!

I saw some of the aforementioned salad dressings at the market not long ago and wondered how they tasted. They were rather pricey, IMHO so I passed them by. I was interested in the Oriental dressing.

I like spicy things (of COURSE you already knew that LW would like spicy stuff, eh?) and flavors that have a high contrast.

I really truly pock-a-dooly like Hot 'n Sour Soup! And I can have it on maintenance!

[LongWay2go]

Interestingly enough, the Oriental was the ONLY one I didn't care for. I like HOT spicy things, but that one was spicy in a different way and a little overwhelming for 2 day old limp lettuce!

However, spicy is as spicy does (or something like that) and I think LW and Oriental dressing would be a perfect match!

LW2G Factoid: Chef Gerald, huh? Did'ja know I am a "former" gourmet cook? That's right, 8 years cooking in the gourmet rooms at the lovely Caesar's Palace in grand Las Vegas, NV!

Might THAT explain a thing or two!

[Nancy]

Gerald -

That's so cool that you are a gourmet cook - you can come up with some wonderful recipes for maintenance using Medifast foods!

Once we have our weight off, we wanna keep it off permanently.

One way to do that is to incorporate Medifast products into our daily food intake. The products have a great vitamin premix so that we get all the vitamins and minerals we need each day and they are low in calories so that we may 'spend' the reminder of our daily allotment on other things.

For example, today I had three shakes (Women's Well Being for Comfort & Regularity); several "wads" of broccoli; a serving of Medifast Minestrone with two chopped fresh garden tomatoes & roasted garlic; some fresh blueberries; two big fat dills (I can dill pickles and I gave a jar to a friend today and opened a jar for moi-self...); a cup of coffee with a snort of half & half plus two big fat sugar cookies from my fave bakery (Because I can!) and some left-over roasted garlic chicken ( I made chicken with 40 cloves of garlic the other day and we have had several meals from it) and I had some green beans.

I also had about 6 bottles of water (16 ouncers).

We have large cedar trees in our yard and one Douglas fir. Fir cones and little branches are falling lately as we have had quite a bit of wind so I had a lot of debris to clean out of the back gutters and flower beds. I was up and down the ladder MANY MANY times!

I worked in the yard for six hours straight - trimming the yard, shrubs, I hacked the wisteria and passion vines and swept the patio; raked the flower beds and then I mowed. Terry brought me one of my shakes while I was out back!

I had plenty of energy to do all that I did today - besides the yard work, I left the house early for a dental appointment (I had 6 gnarly shots of Novocain...Yikes!), went to Portland and visited two friends and then came back to The Couve and visited with another friend for a while.

Medifast is ideal for me - I don't always have time to create a well-balanced meal so I can be sure to get all that I need by using some of our Medifast foods – all for a very economical price, too, I might add.

Gerald, I think that with your expertise, you will be able to create some great meals that are low in calorie, low fat and cholesterol plus low glycemic index - you could be Chef Medifast!

Now as you are on the weight loss phase - and we know that you will be on this phase for some time, you are learning how often to eat and just how much to eat. Enjoy this phase - it's like you are in college for your health. I looked at it positively. For the first time in my life, I really took notice of serving sizes. I used to be an oinker with my serving sizes...

During the weight loss phase, I read everything I could get my hands on about nutrition, why some foods are better than others, why people over eat. I read Diabetes for Dummies and learned so much! I read about heart healthy foods - Our good friend and fellow Health Advisor Steve Wills had triple heart by-pass surgery two years ago and my 80 y/o Daddy had a massive heart attack on Nov. 9th and we have had to learn how to buy and prepare meals for their special needs (which really is how we all should eat!).

[LongWay2go]

Absolutely, I'll be happy to contribute menu ideas once I switch to a modified plan or go into maintenance, whichever comes first! For now I don't dare. Mike's reaches from CA to MA with no problem and he's keeping me on the straight and narrow!

If you didn't see my post yesterday morning, I had to go on an over-nighter yesterday, as I was transporation for some friends participating in a 3 day charity cycling tour across MA. They had to get to the NW corner of the state somehow, so I got nominated to drive them since I can't ride, but do own a van!

It was tough, as avid cyclists are heavy carb loaders. They ate everything imaginable in the car on the way then loaded up on pasta and cookies and cake at the big send-off dinner last night. I DID have a little plain-jane salad with no dressing for supper so I could join them but I do mean little. It was basically a side-salad sized salad on a bread plate and I skipped a shake to make up for the two cherry tomatoes that were on it(I hope that made up for it!). Other than that, it was an uneventful trip and I came back home this morning once the riders took off.

- Gerald

[Nancy]

Gerald ~

Good for you! You did an awesome job - but no skipping shakes! NEVER EVER skip a shake. Two cherry tomaters would NOT harm the fat-burning stage. A small side salad is just okie dokie.

Raise your right paw right now and repeat after me:

I...
Shall...
Not...
Ever...
no...
Never...
Ever ...
Skip...
a...
shake ...
or...
a...
meal...

I chuckled at what you wrote about those carby friends that you squired about the countryside - that's how I used to eat all the time and I NEVER rode a bike or walked in a marathon! I just thought I needed it for the marathon of daily life! Hah!

Shake on!

Gerald, you are on your way to Thinsville!

[LongWay2go]

Ok, well I wasn't sure about the carb content of those tomatoes, and I have whip burns from Mike already from the other day when I talked about going on a modified diet in a few months. I wasn't taking any chances!

- Gerald

[Sylvia]

Gerald,

Thanks for this reminder. I tried Walden Farms products a while back and remeber they were pretty good. I've since moved to Houston and haven't noticed them in the stores here. Would appreciate any advice about which ones are good or not good since I will need to order online.

Sylvia

[LongWay2go]

Sure Sylvia! I'm always happy to offer an opinion, or hadn't you noticed that yet!

Oriental - too spicy for me. I like "hot" spicy, but this one overwhelms
Bacon Ranch - new flavor, so I haven't tried it
Russian - one of my favorites!
Thousand Island - almost as good as Russian
Classico Italian - not my cup of tea, but good for Italian
Creamy Bleu Cheese - VERY tangy! Sharp, sharp, sharp!
Ranch - haven't tried this one either
Honey Dijon - very good!
Italian w/Sun Dried Tomato - don't really like Italian - haven't tried
Original Caesar - not a big fan of Caesar either
Raspberry Vinaigrette - pretty good!
Balsamic Vinaigrette - like Italian, not my cup of tea
Country Italian - ditto
Creamy Bacon - oh yeah!
French - one of the best for sure!

I tend to prefer creamy dressings, but for some reason haven't tried any of the Ranch varieties. Maybe they didn't have those when I ordered before. I was buying these 12 bottles at a time though! You can't beat 0 cals/carbs/fat/sugar with this kind of flavor!

- Gerald

[Sylvia]

Thanks! I'm going to order some right now! I'm getting a little tired of the FF Italian I've been using every day.

[LongWay2go]

Sure can't blame you there! I can do Italian sometimes, but sure don't prefer it.

- Gerald