Losing weight while eating well

Back in April, Ralph and I looked in the mirror and weren't real happy with what we were seeing: two overweight people who had trouble buttoning their pants and needed to buy bigger ones, or do something.

We decided not to go on a "diet" but make some positive lifestyle changes with regards to eating. We definitely cut back on our portions, made wiser choices of what we put in our mouths, and started moving more. It's been a little over six months, and Ralph has lost 25 pounds and I've lost 21 lbs.

Ralph has been pretty much sticking to a modified Dr. Atkins, and I've been doing my own version of a modified Weight Watchers. We come together somewhere in the middle. Making positive food changes gets easier the longer you do it, and I applaud those people who have been doing it all along.

It also helps to have friends who motivate you and make exercising fun. Paula Tlachac and Toni Brazil are sisters and have been my friends for many years. When I joined Curves this year, I would always see them there, and we would do lots of talking while we moved around the circle. Then when the weather got nicer, we would leave Curves and meet at Toni's house and do an hour of water aerobics.

In the last week of August, I joined a couple of other friends from the Station Grill, and every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6 a.m., we met in Mills Park for a boot-camp style exercise class run by Verna Lewis "From the Top." It was early, hard and one of those classes that reminds you of the vegetables you didn't want to eat and your mother told you to eat them because they were good for you. I will never look at Mills Park the same way again. We did so many different things in the park every day, and Lewis showed us you can vary your routine and do stuff you never imagined you could or would do in the park for exercise.

And then like a lot of other people in town, we took on The Great American Weight Loss Challenge. Our team is one of the four teams from Curves. I joined because I wanted to stay motivated, but on our team two people are lifetime Weight Watcher members, three probably have hardly any weight to lose, and the other five of us are plugging away. It doesn't help that four of us just got back from a family reunion, and that a couple of others are getting ready to go on vacation. C'est la vie!

The recipes that I'm going to share with you today come from Dr. Dean Ornish and his book "Eat More, Weigh Less."

COLESLAW WITH GREEN APPLES

4 cups shredded green and red cabbage

1 large carrot, shredded

2 green apples, shredded

3 T. nonfat plain yogurt

1 T. grainy-style or honey mustard

1 T. apple juice

1 teaspoon honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Shred the cabbage, carrot and apples in a food processor or with a hand grater over a large bowl. Whisk together the remaining ingredients. When well blended, pour over cabbage mixture and allow to marinate for 30 minutes or longer. This can be made up to one day in advance. One cup has 60 calories

TOMATO YOGURT RUSSIAN DRESSING

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 teaspoon sugar

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. red wine vinegar

4 T. tomato puree

1 cup nonfat plain yogurt

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Two tablespoons has 21 calories

On a final note, my next column will be written by Brenda Smith of Smith & Smith Farms in Dayton. She writes a newsletter that comes every week with our basket, and I always think its nice to get another perspective, this one from the grower. After that David from Adele's will do another guest column.

Linda Marrone has lived in Carson City since 1973, and with her husband, Ralph, formerly operated Marrone's Restaurant in Carson City and Somethin's Cookin' Catering.