Dinner Wrapped Up: Low-fat Delicious Sandwich Wrap Recipes

What a perfect way to wrap up the long week and welcome the weekend—with wonderful wraps!

Wraps are versatile, low in fat, simple to prepare, fun to eat and simply delicious. They’re also the prefect solution to the ‘what’s for dinner?’ question that plagues your Friday night and begs answering without a take-out menu.

Need some ideas? You’re in the right place. Here are three recipe suggestions that are bound to get your taste buds singing and earn the chef a round of kudos. Incidentally, wrap fillings can be made ahead of time, saving you even more time in the kitchen by the time the weekend rolls around.


Teriyaki Chicken Wraps
Serves 4

1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup fat-free, whipped cream cheese
3 tablespoons minced, sweet onion
4 large flour tortillas
4 large lettuce leaves (such as romaine)

1. Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar, sugar and ginger in a large plastic back with a zip lock.
2. Add the chicken to the bag and seal. Allow the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes, but no longer than 4 hours.
3. Preheat your grill to medium-high heat.
4. Grill the chicken about 4-6 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear when the meat is pierced.
5. Place the chicken on a cutting board or plate. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then cut into strips.
6. Combine the cream cheese and onion in a small bowl.
7. Divide the cream cheese mixture among each tortilla, spreading the mixture out from the center of each.
8. Place a few chicken strips on top of each tortilla and then top with the lettuce.
9. Roll each tortilla into a tube, finishing with the seam side down.
10. Cut each wrap on the diagonal and serve.



Smoked Turkey & Roasted Pepper Wraps with Cream Cheese and Capers
Serves 4

1/2 cup low-fat whipped cream cheese
1 teaspoon capers
4 large flour tortillas
3/4 pound sliced smoked turkey breast
1 large roasted red bell pepper, sliced into 4 strips (from a jar is fine)
4 leaves of romaine lettuce, torn

1. Combine the cream cheese and capers in a small bowl. Season with ground black pepper, if you wish (but do not add salt).
2. Divide and spread the cream cheese mixture on each tortilla.
3. Divide the turkey among the tortillas.
4. Add a slice of roasted red peppers on top of each tortilla. Then add the shredded to each.
5. Roll each tortilla into a tube, finishing with the seam side down.
6. Cut the wraps in half on the diagonal and serve.


Apple and Walnut Chicken Salad Wraps
Serves 4

1/2 cup dry white wine
¼ cup low-fat chicken broth
Juice of 1 lemon
2 sprigs fresh thyme
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup non-fat sour cream
2 apples, cored and chopped
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced red onion
4 cups mixed salad greens, or washed spinach
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
4 large flour tortillas


1. Combine the wine, lemon juice and thyme in a Dutch oven or large saucepan.
2. Add the chicken breasts and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low.
3. Let the chicken simmer for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the chicken cool in the saucepan until cool enough to handle.
4. Combine the sour cream, chopped apples, diced celery, red onion and toasted walnuts.
5. Remove the chicken from the stock and cut or shred it into small pieces.
6. Add the chicken to the sour cream mixture and blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if you wish.
4. Divide the chicken among the tortillas. Top with the salad greens.
5. Roll each tortilla into a tube, finishing with the seam side down.
6. Cut the wraps in half on the diagonal and serve.

Tasty and Smart Diet Trade Offs

It’s a given that something has to give when you’re dieting. Goodbye to loads of sugar, carbs and saturated fats. But, flavor and satisfaction do not have to be on the list of things to avoid. In fact, you can lighten your load by making smart substitutions and still keep your taste buds happy.

Here’s a rundown of common foods that can be lightened up or traded for something else:

Calorie Saving Cocoa
Who doesn’t love the rich, creamy flavor and goodness of a cup of cocoa? But, when you prepare a mug from the powdered mix you buy in the supermarket, it can add up to a whopping 250 calories—before even adding the low-fat milk! Try this variation instead:

Gently heat 8 ounces of low-fat (or non-fat) milk with a whole cinnamon stick. Then pour the hot milk (without the cinnamon stick) into a cup. Add one tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, a dash of vanilla extract, and stir until blended.

Wrap it Up
Substitute whole leaves of romaine lettuce for bread next time you make a sandwich and you can shave off 150 or more calories from your lunch. The crunch of the lettuce provides extra munch value too, helping you to feel more satisfied.

Beans for Beef
Leave the chuck in the freezer use ground chickpeas or lentils in your favorite ground beef recipes instead. The beans have about the same calories as beef per ounce, but a LOT less fat.

Tastier Toast
We all love the buttery goodness of toast in the morning, don’t we? Add some jam and we’re really cookin’! But, there’s a lot of calories, fat and extra sugar lying on that bread. Instead, try spreading a tiny amount of honey on your toast. A little goes a long way and adds so much flavor!

Move Over Mayo
Sometimes, a sandwich simply needs something moist between the layers. But, instead of mayonnaise, try spreading a thin layer of non-fat cream cheese.

Tweak the Tuna
When it comes to tuna, always buy the kind that’s packed in water instead of oil. In addition, instead of mixing tuna salad with mayo, combine it with a little lemon juice and chopped onion. You’ll have great tasting tuna salad that’s a few hundred calories lighter.

Swap the Soda
Instead of popping a can of fizz, go for flavored water instead.

Put the Freeze on Ice Cream
Put your ice cream scoop to work on some frozen yogurt instead.

No Cheese, Please
Try pizza sans the cheese and loaded up with roasted veggies instead. One average slice equates to about 250 calories and only 2 grams of fat compared to 450 calories and 13.5 grams of fat.

Wild Turkey
Sometimes, ya’ just gotta have a burger. Make yours from ground turkey and you’ve got half the fat of the ground beef version.

Smart Snack Stash
Pass on the potato chips and scoop up a handful of pistachio nuts instead. They’re flavorful, crunchy and they satisfy the craving for salt, but without all the fat and calories of chips.

No time to exercise? Take a pill instead.

We’ve got instant energy in a bottle, so why not exercise in a pill? Believe it or not, scientists are working on it. So far, the only bodies to benefit from the no-exercise pill belong to mice. But, the drug is currently being tested in humans as a therapy to help prevent complications of heart bypass surgery. Scientists hope that someday, the same drug may help people to gain the benefits of exercise without even breaking into a sweat.

The exercise-in-a-pill drug is composed of two compounds known as GW1516 and AICAR. Using mice as models, researchers have discovered that the compound GW1516 significantly boosts endurance in mice that were accustomed to exercising on a daily basis. In fact, given this substance, the little critters could run an average of 68% faster and 70% farther than their sedentary cousins. Oddly, sedentary mice treated to this chemical cocktail did not experience the same result. In fact, it had no effect at all.

AICAR, on the other hand, improved endurance in mice that didn’t care to shake a leg much. At the end of the experiment, these sedentary little guys ran 23% longer and a whopping 44% faster than they could prior to receiving the AICAR treatment. And, they did so without stepping up on time spent on the wheel. Apparently, the drug promotes the same benefits as aerobic exercise by mimicking the same chemical response.

Of course, it’s not yet clear if the same results can be extrapolated from mouse to man. And, if it is possible, the exercise-in-a-pill may be a long time coming before taking up residence in our medicine cabinets. But, why sit around and wait at all?

The good news is that there are safe, natural and effective formulas available to help you lose weight without starving yourself or running through a maze. And they’re available right now from our Diet and Energy Center.

Take advantage of special savings on proven products such as Curb Your Cravings™ Hoodia 24K, Curb Your Cravings™ Hoodia Weight Loss Patch, CYCLOTRIM™ Weight Loss To Go and Curb Your Cravings™ Green Tea with Hoodia. And while you’re there, find out how you can get free shipping!

Diary to Double Your Weight Loss

There’s some exciting news that appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine this month: Dieters who keep a diary to track what they eat every day lose twice as much weight as those who don’t.

Actually, this isn’t a new idea. Fitness trainers, nutritionists and weight loss specialists have promoted pushing the almighty pen for years. However, this published report may be the last word on whether or not this dieting strategy really works.

The study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, involved four clinical research centers and is one of the largest weight loss studies ever conducted. The study subjects—more than 1,600 in number—weighed an average of 212 pounds at the start of the project. The objective for the participants was to lose a minimum of nine pounds within six months by cutting back at least 500 calories per day and engaging in moderate exercise for an average of 180 minutes per week. Of course, they were also asked to keep a daily food diary. Some did, some didn’t.

Did the study subjects reach their goals? Indeed, and some even surpassed them. Almost 70% lost at least nine pounds within the given timeframe and two-thirds of the entire group lost enough weight to have a significant positive impact on their health, such as improved blood pressure, reduced joint pain and less risk of developing diabetes. What’s even more remarkable is that those study subjects who jotted down their dietary habits in a diary at least six days a week lost an average of 18 pounds—twice the amount than those who neglected to keep a diary at all.

Aside from being a self-monitoring system to keep an eye on what and how much you eat on a daily basis, a dieting diary can also help to identify emotional or physical triggers to the urge to splurge. To that end, it’s a good idea to keep a diary or journal that provides enough space for you to make notes on how you are feeling at the time you eat a meal. This is especially important when it comes to snacks. Within just a few day a pattern may emerge from which you can learn a lot about yourself.

Another benefit to keeping a food diary is to help keep you motivated. After all, we’re all our own worst critics, aren’t we? If you have to answer to yourself, you’ll think twice about reaching for unhealthy food choices if you have to write them down to look at later. Somehow, the words ‘chocolate chip cookies’ seem to spring off the page, especially when you realize that you ate a handful right after balancing your checkbook.

If writing about your emotional feelings isn’t a particularly favorite thing for you to do, then try this: Assign a number to the mood that went with the food. For instance, you could rate your emotional state at breakfast on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being exuberantly excited to start a new day and 5 to indicate that you’d much rather be back in bed. You can make your own definitions, of course, but you get the idea.

It’s also a good idea to note how hungry you were at the start of each meal. Again, the number rating system comes in handy for this purpose. The number 1 could mean that you were only mildly hungry while 5 could suggest feeling famished.

Some final suggestions: Make room at the end of each day to note any physical activities in which you partook and also any reflections on the day that you may have. Remember, you’re not writing the Great American Novel here. For that matter, your diary is for your eyes only. So, keep it honest and keep it up. Before you know it, you’ll have lost twice the weight you thought you could in a given time, just like the folks in the weight loss study.

Weight Loss Tips for the Most Popular Month to Eat Out

Did you know that the month of August is the most popular month for dining out? While this may be a boon to restaurateurs, the National Restaurant Association has compiled some other interesting tidbits of information that give real weight to what this means for you. Aside from paying for the privilege of having someone else prepare your meal and clean up after you, you may also pay a price in the form of excess calories and less nutrition. So, before you head out on the highway for that hamburger special, think about whether or not you can really afford it.

For example, according to a study conducted by the University of Texas, women consume an average of 250 more calories when dining out that they normally would having dinner at home. Maybe it’s the anticipation of receiving the bill that makes us feel like we have to eat everything on our plates. Maybe it’s simply the choices we make when ordering. Maybe it’s both.

Then there’s the nutritional downfall. Most of us think of dining out as a treat—and it is. But, the inherent problem with that kind of thinking is that a treat should equate to something we either wouldn’t prepare at home due to its complexity, or because it’s just plain too darn rich and fattening. So, rather than scan the lighter side of the menu, our eyes get big over ogling the ‘good stuff.’ Unfortunately, according to a St. Louis University study, those of us who consistently go for the ‘good stuff’ usually end up consuming 25% fewer fruits and vegetables.

So, should you just stay at home avoid the dining out versus dieting quandary altogether? Nah. You can have your cake and eat it too…if you follow these simple suggestions:

- Begin with a bountiful salad. If you can get through most of it before diving into the main course, you’ll consume an average of 100 less calories than you would skipping on the greens.


- Speaking of the salad…ask that the dressing be brought to the table on the side instead of drizzled on the salad for you. That way, you can control how much dressing to use. Remember, it’s the salad dressing that often hides the most calories in an entire meal.


- Substitute high fat and calorie side dishes (like French fries or creamed corn, for example) with a steamed vegetable. You might have to pay a small price for this substitution, but it’s small potatoes when you consider that you can save yourself from 300 or more calories.


- Here’s a novel idea: Ask your server to place half of your entrée in a take-out container before bringing your plate to the table. You’ll be spared from overeating and you’ll gain something to have for lunch the following day.