Cheese can make you skinny! Deceptively obvious diet secrets, part one

I suspect most people who don’t spend a lot of time researching nutrition and food make the same kinds of assumptions—too much sugar is bad, whole wheat is healthier, and dairy is full of fat. Sometimes our assumptions are just common sense—water is always better than diet soda, for instance—but sometimes we agree to believe things just because we’ve heard it out there in the world, even though our information may be outdated, or even straight up wrong.

Before I started my weight loss process I thought of dairy as a treat and would limit it mostly to just ice cream. No kidding! I thought that was the healthier way around the high fat content I’d assumed was in cheese, yogurt, and sour cream. Here’s the thing, though: dairy also contains many of the vitamins and minerals, namely calcium and vitamin D, that help keep your body functioning at its highest levels, therefore making weight loss much more efficient. Not to mention—they make dairy products without the fat these days. Who’d have known, right?

Seriously, nom.

Seriously, nom.

I was surprised when I started Weight Watchers that there was such a high minimum for daily dairy intake. I am not a milk drinker, so the idea of needing to drink two whole glasses a day to satisfy my quota was really gross. But I started eating cottage cheese for breakfast, and it gave me a new perspective on how to work it into my daily nutrition. I would often pair my half cup of fat free cottage cheese with whatever fruit was seasonable, strawberries or mangoes, peaches or apples, topped with a bit of cinnamon. It was surprisingly satisfying, mostly because the protein in the cheese kept me going well into the morning. 

Come snack time, I would grab a Light and Fit yogurt from the fridge and sprinkle in some granola, or eat it plain. Only 80 calories and really actually delicious (I won’t normally recommend products with aspertame in them, but these are too good to pass up) my second dairy helping for the day would only put me back 1 point, and hold me over until lunch time.

Dairy suddenly showed its helpful face after work outs, as well. As you exercise your muscles, they heat up and burn off the excess fat you’re trying to lose, and it also helps raise your metabolism to make burning off calories go even faster. But that wears your muscles out and depletes them of important nutrients like protein, so I discovered soon after starting an exercise program that eating a small piece of cheese right after a work out (string cheese is my favorite—very portable, and usually low-fat) would help my muscles heal faster, would satisfy my hunger and exhaustion, and would help keep off the calories my new, faster metabolism was hard at work burning off. All of a sudden, I was really about dairy!

My most successful dairy revelation came however, when I realized the versatility of plain, non-fat yogurt. It’s practically points-free (not really, its about 2 points per cup, but you won’t need to eat that much) and can fill in as a substitution for just about anything. Seriously, anything! I used it in baking recipes, in place of sour cream on potatoes and Mexican food, as a vegetable dip, or as a base for creamy soups and sauces. You can buy it in big tubs for about $2, and I promise, you’ll use it all up before it’s expiration date! Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to 1 cup of plain NF yogurt, then mix in a boxed brownie mix—voila, you’ve just circumvented all the eggs and oil that make brownies such a sinful treat! Mix in half a Hidden Valley ranch seasoning packet and you’ve got a light and refreshing dip for baby carrots, celery sticks and zucchini, which I like even more than regular ranch dips now.

I'd like to say I keep my plain yogurt in wholesome jars like these, because it looks so homey and pretty. Storebrand plastic tubs it is for me, though.

My weight loss success has been all about little changes like this one—breaking through the assumptions I’d made about food and using the knowledge I’d learned strategically to both nourish myself, and continue to enjoy the food and flavors I love. And that’s what La Vie Celebre is about—treat yourself well, keep yourself healthy, and celebrate the small moments of your life.