Yoplait has done it again! Aside from their marketing people leaving way too many comments about my review of their revolting Yoplait Whips! Chocolate Mousse Style Yogurt, they’ve recently discontinued my favorite flavor – Coconut Cream Pie! I’ve been wondering why I haven’t been able to find it at my grocery store recently so I even checked their site and it isn’t anywhere to be found. I was so distraught at the possibility that they discontinued my favorite flavor that I even contacted them, desperately pleading that they bring it back (BABY COME BACK)! The Coconut Cream Pie flavor was a perfect pairing with berries. Now I’ve had to resort to purchasing their French Vanilla flavor, which is also good with berries but not as good as the Coconut Cream Pie flavor.
The discontinuation of Yoplait Coconut Cream Pie Yogurt can only mean one thing – Yoplait is out to get me! I so know they did this to get me back for dissing Yoplait Whips! Chocolate Mousse Style Yogurt.
The New York Times has a pretty good article about The Biggest Loser contestants, their food intake, and cooking. I was really surprised to hear that the contestants don’t have a chef or prepared meals. The article emphasizes my point about cooking your own food and its impact on losing weight. Overall, a pretty interesting read, especially if you’re a fan of the show.
For some crazy reason they chose to highlight the two vilest contestants in the show’s history: Vicky and Heba. BARF.
When I was 22, I did Weight Watchers for a few months. Weight Watchers is painful for a variety of reasons (counting points is very tedious) but those AWFUL meetings were the worst! Imagine a group of women your mom’s age all sitting around talking about recipes and sharing recipes. Since I didn’t cook at the time, the whole recipe thing bored me and I didn’t really see the importance of cooking when it comes to weight loss.
A few months ago, I decided to try getting more serious about cooking. I bought a couple of healthy/low-fat cookbooks and started experimenting. Learning how to cook has been fantastic. Since I’m preparing my own meals, I get to eat tasty, satisfying, healthy food that isn’t boring or bland. I find the actual process of cooking to be really fun and most of my meals have turned out pretty well. In some weird way, the food that I cook seems to be more dignified and hence more satisfying.
I have also figured out that if I cook something over the weekend, my cooking experience is a lot more fun and much less stressful. Trying to cook (and having to cleanup) after a full day of work (and while starving) is just no fun. The best part about cooking on a Saturday or Sunday is that I usually have enough leftovers to serve as my dinners for the rest of the week.
I’m actually really amazed at how much of a difference cooking and preparing my own food has made in my satisfaction with my weight loss efforts. I think it is yet another way where this whole process is becoming more of a lifestyle change than a “diet.” Between preparing my own lunch and having leftovers for dinner, I’d estimate that well over 90% of my meals have been prepared at home. I actually don’t enjoy dining out as much as I used to, mostly because the food tends to be much much heavier than what I’m used to.
I went into the cafeteria at work yesterday afternoon to pick up an energy bar (because I was starving!) when one of the cashiers tells me, “Long time, no see you!” The ESL made me smile (it sounds like the sort of minor flub my mom would make) but she had a point. In the past month, I’ve only bought one lunch from the cafeteria (down from everyday). Aside from saving about $25 – $35/week, bringing my own lunch has made a tremendous difference in how I feel about food and my lifestyle. I can’t say that bringing my own lunch has made a significant difference in my weight loss but it simply makes me feel like I have options when it comes to what I’m eating for lunch. I’m really picky about food (and don’t find most of our cafeteria’s food to be all that great) so my lunches have been limited to salad, sandwich & chips, or the occasional garden burger. Not only was it boring to eat the same lunch over and over again for over two and a half years, I think it was also impacting how I felt about my food choices. I don’t really like feeling deprived and when those feelings take over for a prolonged period of time, I tend to feel angry and have an intense desire to rebel. Rebellions are great when you’re a teenager but not the most efficient way to lose weight. I used to think of preparing my own lunch as a big chore-like ordeal but lately, my perspective on it has changed tremendously. For one thing, I know that it doesn’t take me THAT long to prepare my lunch and snacks for the day (especially when I do it the night before). It also makes me feel special – I get to eat a healthy, tasty lunch that is often different everyday and that I actually look forward to eating. And instead of guessing if something is healthy (or if it is even going to taste good), I know exactly what’s going in my mouth. I’ve been really surprised how much of an impact something so simple has had on my well being. I guess it just feels really empowering. Instead of feeling like a victim or that I’m getting punished, I feel like I’m getting something special (in a good way).
Under any circumstance, do not try the Yoplait Whips! Chocolate Mousse Style Yogurt. I saw this stuff last night at Busch’s and figured I’d give it a try because Yoplait makes my favorite yogurt flavors. I figured this stuff would live up to the Yoplait name but it didn’t.
The yogurt certainly has the consistency and color of chocolate mousse but there is a very good reason why yogurt is not mousse. The Yoplait Whips! Chocolate Mousse Style Yogurt tastes like yogurt that has been fluffed and yogurt should not be fluffed. I like yogurt and I like chocolate but I don’t think they were meant to be together. With every swallow, you taste both the sweetness of the chocolate and the sourness of the yogurt, which merely makes for a very repulsive yogurt experience. I’m also not sure that the chocolate flavor really tastes like chocolate anyway. I think they were trying to mask the yogurt flavor with the chocolate flavor but you can’t mask the flavor of yogurt.
We did some more shopping in a store that was across from the water/port. We couldn’t really figure out this store’s specialty since they seemed to sell everything . . . in bulk. Their display of fruits and nuts looked pretty cool.
Vimto is probably the best tasting fruit soda ever. It is also super sweet – to the point where you know that your teeth are rotting and you’re developing diabetes as you’re drinking it. I believe it is available in ethnic grocers in the U.S. but it seemed fitting to have a can while I was in Dubai. Other sodas that I tried in Dubai:
Diet Pepsi – the Diet Pepsi they sell in Dubai is NOT the same thing as its awesome American counterpart. In fact, I believe what they sell in Dubai is in fact Pepsi One and not Diet Pepsi. It tasted like Pepsi One and the can did say that it only had one calorie. I like Pepsi One every now and then but it is not a substitute for Diet Pepsi!
Coca Cola Light – this version of Diet Coke seems to taste better than the nasty stuff they sell here.
Mirinda – the orange soda didn’t taste as good as I remembered it did when I was a kid.
Zim Zim Diet Cola – this stuff is pretty nasty. It tastes flat and somewhat lemony. I believe it is made in Saudi Arabia or UAE.
Overall, food in Dubai was excellent. I had really good food that you can’t readily get in the U.S. – kibbee, shawarma, falafel (heart-shaped nonetheless), Afghani bread, and lots of other stuff that I can’t remember at the moment.
