The Big Game (Managing Parties)

Hello, Weight Watchers! Did you notice yourself practicing any of the Helpful Habits this week? The more we can make healthy choices as a habit, the easier it will be to lose and maintain a new, healthy weight. Success is Habit-Forming!

SIZZLING SHORTCUTS

I’m thrilled to introduce the newest cookbook from Weight Watchers, Shortcuts. This book, available soon, includes over 130 family-friendly recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less, have seven ingredients or less, and take three steps or less to prepare. Shake up the winter blues with this cookbook for only $10!

SOURDOUGH DELIGHT

Make sure to attend a meeting this week to receive your free sample of the newest flavor of Pretzel Thins, Sourdough. If you’re looking for a portion-controlled salty snack, these are for you! They would also be great with a little Laughing Cow cheese or mustard.

RIPPED

Many members shy away from strength training because they’re afraid of bulking up or slowing their rate of weight loss. (Sorry, ladies, we can’t blame a gain on lifting weights. We just don’t have the right mix of hormones to gain muscle faster than we lose fat.) We lose more than just fat when we lose weight – we also lose lean muscle tissue, bone mass, and fluid. Strength training helps us conserve lean muscle mass, improve bone density, and increase our resting metabolism. You don’t have to pump iron at the gym to improve your strength and endurance – sneak in some curls with cans or small hand weights during television commercials or do a few push-ups and squats before you go to bed at night. Visit Strength Training for Dummies for some basic strength training exercises to try!

ARTICLES OF NOTE

• The Skill of Flexible Restraint
• Super Bowl Smarts
• No-Cook Dinners

This week, we’ll be discussing strategies for handling an upcoming challenge that many members will face – Super Bowl Sunday. Typically filled with chips, dips, and junk, we will discuss offensive strategies to prepare ourselves and defensive strategies to keep us on the plan on game day. You can use these strategies year-round to manage special events. Join me for The Big Game (Managing Parties)!

Have a great week, everyone!

Cyndi

Use attack as the tactic of defense.

--Chinese proverb

Turkey-Bean Chili

Serves 4 | 6 POINTS and Core

From Shortcuts

• 1 lb skinless, boneless turkey breast, cut into 1” cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 15 ½ oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 14 ½ oz can diced tomatoes with jalapeno peppers
• 1 11 oz can Mexican-style corn kernels
• ½ c chopped fresh cilantro

Spray a nonstick Dutch oven with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and onion; cook, stirring frequently, until the turkey is no longer pink (~5 min). Stir in the chili powder.

Add the beans, tomatoes, and corn. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the turkey is cooked through and the flavors are blended (~15 min). Stir in the cilantro and serve immediately.

Mediterranean Meatball Pitas

Serves 4 | 7 POINTS

From Shortcuts

• ½ c plain FF Greek-style yogurt
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 T chopped fresh mint
• 1 12 oz package fully cooked turkey meatballs
• 4 6” multigrain pitas
• 1 tomato, chopped
• ½ cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• Fresh mint leaves (optional)

Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, and chopped mint in a small bowl. Set aside.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium heat. Add the meatballs and cook, covered, turning frequently, until heated through (~5 min).

Cut a pocket in each pita. Fill each pocket with 3 meatballs, ~2 T each tomato, cucumber, and yogurt mixture. Add mint leaves if desired. Serve immediately.

Success is Habit Forming

Hello, Weight Watchers! Did last week’s meeting help you to Eat Wisely this week? I hope that the food, planning, and Good Health Guidelines discussion helped you to get through the week!

NEW CHALLENGE!

The Eight Good Health Guidelines are the foundation for a healthy eating program. I will begin a GHG challenge February 1, and the sheet to get you started is attached. There will be a weekly drawing of members with weekly scores of 45+ and a drawing at the end of the month of all entries. Grand prizes will be negotiable – any one meeting room product $25 or less!

CORE KICKSTART RECIPES

Thanks to another helpful staff member and the eTools Recipe Builder, here are the POINTS values for the Core Recipes included on page 12 in your KickStart booklet:

Pasta with Meat Sauce, 6
Chicken with Broccoli and Garlic Sauce, 8 (4 without rice)
Mustard Dill Chicken, 3
Shepherd’s Pie, 19
Chicken Cacciatore, 7

COOKIE MONSTER?

It’s hard enough to avoid temptation, but then it comes knocking at your front door. And it’s for a good cause too! If you don’t want cookies around, keep in mind that you don’t have to bring them home in order to support the Girl Scouts. You can purchase cookies and give them to a local food pantry or have them donated to the troops.

A great Thin Mint alternative is the Weight Watchers Just 2 POINTS Mint Cookie Crisp bar – especially fresh from the freezer! On the other hand, if you love the cookies and you would feel deprived if you missed out, go ahead and plan to enjoy them as part of your program. Know the POINTS values and remember that a serving size is typically 2 cookies (not a SLEEVE of Thin Mints, which I found equals 14 POINTS!). Two different bakeries produce the cookies–I believe the Little Brownie Bakery supplies the Indiana area. Find more nutrition data or other information on the Girl Scout website!

Girl Scout Cookie POINTS Values
(Little Brownie Bakery)

Thin Mints: 4 cookies = 3 POINTS
Samoas: 2 cookies = 4 POINTS
Lemon Chalet Crèmes: 2 cookies = 4 POINTS
Trefoils: 5 cookies = 4 POINTS
Do-si-dos: 2 cookies = 3 POINTS
Tagalongs: 2 cookies = 4 POINTS
All Abouts: 3 cookies = 4 POINTS
Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips: 3 cookies = 4 POINTS

Girl Scout Cookie POINTS Values
(ABC Bakers)

Thin Mints: 4 cookies = 4 POINTS
Caramel deLites: 2 cookies = 3 POINTS
Lemonades: 2 cookies = 4 POINTS
Shortbread: 4 cookies = 3 POINTS
Peanut Butter Sandwich: 3 cookies = 4 POINTS
Peanut Butter Patties: 2 cookies = 4 POINTS
Thanks A Lot: 3 cookies = 4 POINTS
Cinna-Spins: 1 package (15 mini cookies) = 2 POINTS

ARTICLES OF NOTE

• Be An After Challenge: Healthy Habits
• How to Banish Bad Habits
• The Skill of Flexible Restraint

This meeting provides an overview of how the eight Helpful Habits (in the Think First book) work as a system. We are encouraged to take all the time we need to discover which two or three habits will make the biggest difference in our weight-loss journey, and learn how the Habit Profile, Think First, and the Tools for Living can help. Join me this week to learn how Success is Habit-Forming!

Have a great week, everyone!

Cyndi

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

--Jim Ryun

Southwestern Spiced Popcorn

From www.weightwatchers.com

Makes 4 servings

POINTS® value per 2-cup serving: 1 (note: a 1-cup serving has a POINTS value of 0)

Ingredients

• 8 cups air-popped popcorn
• Nonstick spray
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika, preferably smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

1. Place popcorn in a large bowl; spray with nonstick spray, tossing well.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and garlic powder. Sprinkle over the popcorn, tossing all the while, until well coated.

Parmesan-Thyme Popcorn

From www.weightwatchers.com

Makes 4 servings

POINTS® value per 2-cup serving: 2 (note: a 1-cup serving has a POINTS value of 1)

Ingredients

• 8 cups air-popped popcorn
• Nonstick spray
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Place the popcorn in a large bowl; spray with nonstick spray, tossing well.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the cheese, thyme, garlic powder and salt, then sprinkle over the popcorn, tossing all the while until well coated.

What Do I Eat Now?

Hello, Weight Watchers! Did you leave last week’s meeting feeling a part of the group? Like a flock of geese, our progress improved when we “honk” for each other and learn from each other’s success. I encourage you to come each week for the motivation, inspiration, tips, and support Weight Watchers meetings provide.

FOUR WAYS TO FEEL FULLER
Eat More Fiber: More chewing gives your brain time to realize you’re full
Eat More Protein: 3 to 4 ounces per meal will make you feel more satisfied
Eat More Slowly: Listen to your body’s signals; enjoy food without distractions
Pump up the Volume: Choose more fruits, veggies, and soups; increase volume, not calories

BLISS IN A BAR
Did you try your free sample of the new Peanut Butter Bliss Mini Bar we handed out at the meeting? It’s hard to believe they’re just 1 POINTS value each! You can get a box of 12 blissful treats for $7.50. Plus you’ll soon have another chance to sample something different when packets of the new Sourdough Pretzel Thins are given out during the last week of January. And right now you can sample a couple of recipes from the new “Mix It, Match It” cookbook just by scrolling down.

BTW: The Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars and Everything Pretzel Thins are soon to be discontinued, so stock up now!

WEIGHT WATCHERS WANTS YOU!

Are you interested in employment that involves helping others, a discount on Weight Watchers products, and motivation and support to maintain your loss? If so, Weight Watchers may be the place for you! Open Information sessions are open to any current member, whether you are currently at goal or not. This is a great opportunity to find out what we’re all about in a no-stress, no-obligation environment. To RSVP, please call (317) 826-8082.

• January 15, First Baptist Church (1950 E SR 54, Linton), 5pm
• January 16, Indy Southside WW Center (2370 E Stop 11, Indianapolis), 11am
• January 16, Indy Eastside WW Center (9433 E Washington, Indianapolis), 2:30pm
• January 20, Indy Castleton WW Center (8510 Center Run Dr, Indianapolis), 2pm
• January 20, Indy Southside WW Center (2370 E Stop 11, Indianapolis), 4:30pm
• January 22, Grace United Methodist (2836 Indiana Ave, Connersville), 5:30pm
• January 26, Bloomington WW Center (309 Winslow Rd, Bloomington), 10:30am

ARTICLES OF NOTE

• Lessons from a Leader
• Surviving the Post-Season Blues
• 11 Ways to Feel Good Right Now

It’s been a few weeks since many of you received the new KickStart booklet, so this week we’ll be reviewing it, sharing your experiences, and discussing any questions that you have about it. Please bring your KickStart booklet this week when we answer the question, What Do I Eat Now?

Have a great week everyone!

Cyndi

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.

--Malcolm Forbes

Honey Granola
From the new Weight Watchers “Mix It, Match It” Cookbook
10 Servings; 4 POINTS per serving

1 ½ cups mixed rolled grains such as oats, rye, wheat, and barley
½ cup unprocessed wheat bran
¼ cup sesame seeds
½ cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
3/8 cup honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
¾ cup thinly sliced dried apricots
½ cup raisins
¼ cup toasted wheat germ

Place a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat the oven to 350. Spread first three ingredients on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring with a metal spatula every 3 minutes, until golden brown, 9-10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the hazelnuts, honey, vanilla, and pumpkin-pie spice in a medium bowl. Add the grain mixture and toss to combine. Return the mixture to the baking sheet and spread evenly. Bake, stirring every 3 minutes, until dark golden brown, 9-10 minutes longer. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let cool. Combine the apricots, raisins and wheat germ in a small bowl. Stir the dried fruit mixture into the toasted grain mixture.

Curried Couscous Salad with Chicken (CORE)
From the new Weight Watchers “Mix It, Match It” Cookbook
6 Servings; 6 POINTS per serving

1 ½ cups water
1 ¼ teaspoons curry powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole-wheat couscous
1 (15 ½ ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 red apple, cored and diced
1 cup diced, cooked skinless chicken breast
2 scallions, sliced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (6-ounce) bag baby spinach

Bring the water, 1 teaspoon of the curry powder, and ½ teaspoon of the salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the couscous; cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes; fluff with a fork. Combine the chickpeas, apple, chicken, scallions, lemon juice, oil, and the remaining ¼ teaspoon of curry powder and ¼ teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add the couscous and mix well. Divide the spinach among 6 plates and top each plate evenly with the couscous mixture.

Birds of a Feather

Hello, Weight Watchers! Did you take the opportunity this week to Relax, Recuperate, and Refocus a little bit after the craziness of the holidays? Take care of yourself is one of the new Eight Healthy Habits, and one that we can forget with our busy lives. You deserve some special treatment from a very important person – you!

FREE SAMPLES THIS WEEK!

This week, you will all receive a free sample of the new one POINT bar, Peanut Butter Bliss. They will sell 12 to a box for $7.50 and are FANTASTIC! If any of you ever tried an inside-out Reese’s peanut butter cup, they’re very similar and only one POINT!

SHOT IN THE ARM

The new Deluxe member kit includes a book of “shots” of motivation written by our own Weight Watchers District Training Manager, Sharon Riguzzi. She wrote the Shots as part of her weekly e-mail to her members, and the collection has been made into this exclusive book. I’ll be including a Shot now and again in my e-mail to you.

Unsolicited Advice

“You know what you should do?” Doesn’t your back go up when you someone offers unsolicited advice?

In fact, often the back goes up and the mind shuts down when people start telling us what to do. Is it a leftover response from the teenage years? Or is it a reaction based on who is dispensing the advice? We don’t even realize that those of us who hate getting the advice sometimes are very free dishing it out. Of course, we might be so busy dishing out advice we aren’t aware that the receiver has shut us off.

There’s a song title that describes this whole dilemma: Don’t should on me and I won’t should on you! (Say this three times fast, and you might get into a bit of trouble!)

The downside is that we have become a generation that misses out on some good recommendations because advice has gotten a bad rap. In the old days, people would seek out a sage’s wise counsel. Nowadays, it’s hard to find a good sage when you need one.

There are people all around us with experience in whatever area we are muddling through who would be surprised and delighted to share their knowledge. Be it the elderly man next door whose tomatoes are better than anyone else’s in the neighborhood or the maintenance man at work who can get the black marks off the tiles in ten seconds flat, people are flattered when you ask them to share their expertise.

Maybe that’s the clue. We are only open to advice when we ask for it, yet most of us have stopped thinking with our noggin and asking for it when we need it.

Seeking out advice doesn’t mean you have to take it. Just keep in mind how good you feel when someone asks for your counsel and then ignores your wisdom and does his own thing. It’s so interesting that by taking another’s suggestion, we sometimes wind up saving time, or avoiding mistakes, or seeing things from a different dimension, and at the same time that someone else is flattered that another person thought their idea was worthwhile.

How fabulous is that? Instead of isolating ourselves with our own frustrating dilemma, we might be one piece of advice away from success. And often the person who can enlighten us is the person we least expect.

Look around. There are sages all over the place who are just waiting for us to ask.

Go ahead. Take my advice.

ARTICLES OF NOTE

• Social Networking’s Impact on Weight Loss
• Social Support and Lasting Weight Loss
• Cindy’s Lifetime Lessons

A flock of geese migrates together and the group is better off than any one individual bird. We know that people who attend Weight Watchers meetings lose three times more weight than those who try it alone because—not unlike the geese—the group provides the motivation, inspiration, and support we need to keep going. Together, we will discover more about eating wisely, moving more, thinking first, the Helpful Habits, and the Tools for Living in this valuable environment than we ever would alone.

Have a great week, everyone!

Cyndi

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

--Henry Ford

Apple and Oat Muffins

Servings 24 | POINTS 2

From www.weightwatchers.com

• 3 1/4 cup whole-grain wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 1/2 cup Quaker Oats Old-Fashioned Oats, or other brand
• 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar, dark
• 3 small apple(s), cored, peeled and diced
• 1 large egg(s)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup fat-free skim milk
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 12-hole muffin tins with cooking spray.

Sift flour, baking powder and allspice into a bowl and add any remaining flour from sifter into bowl. Set aside 2 tablespoons of oats. Stir remaining oats, brown sugar and apples into flour mixture. Mix egg, oil, yogurt and milk in a separate bowl; stir into flour mixture until combined.

Pour batter into prepared tins and sprinkle with reserved oats. Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. Yields 1 muffin per serving.

Brown Rice Salad with Black Beans and Corn

Servings 4 | POINTS 4 (also Core)

• 1 cup instant brown rice
• 15 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup scallion(s), chopped
• 2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped
• 2 tsp jalapeno pepper(s), pickled, minced, or less to taste
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp lime zest, finely grated
• 1/4 tsp table salt, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
• 1 medium lime(s), quartered

Cook rice according to package directions.

While rice is still warm, stir in beans, corn, scallions, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice and zest; season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with lime wedges. Yields about 1 heaping cup per serving.