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Share the Love This Valentine’s Day


valentine bowls
 


Every year on February 14th we celebrate Valentine’s Day, and it’s traditional for gifts to be exchanged between loved ones. While cards and flowers are perfectly acceptable, the real big hits that day are candy, chocolate, and nice romantic dinners. In other words, indulgent food is usually involved.

 

This can put people working on their weight in a bind. For some, it can feel like you have to choose between meeting your weight goals and indulging for a day.

There is another alternative. It is possible to share meals that are not only special (even romantic) but are healthy and low in calories as well. We’ve reviewed the literally hundreds of recipes on the HMRdiet site and wanted to share some of our favorites with you. And they’re good enough to be shared with others, even if they are not on the HMR diet.

The recipes below are appropriate for people on Decision-Free®, Healthy Solutions®, and Phase 2.

Maple and Butter Cereal:  Nothing says love like hot cereal made the way Mother used to make it.

Strawberry Banana Shake:  This is a great-tasting Decision-Free version of our most popular smoothie.

Cinnamon Roll Shake:  Tastes like Cinnabon®, but about 600 calories less.

HMR Frappuccino:  The marriage of coffee and chocolate, does it get any better?

Thai Peanut Coconut Curry Soup:  Feeling a little exotic? How about a soup with coconut, peanut and curry?

Italian Pasta Chicken Soup:  A hearty Italian soup that says “Ciao Bella.”

Hawaiian Chicken:  Just 3 ingredients and you’re on the beach in Waikiki.

Lemon Cloud:  A light mousse that’s the perfect way to end a meal.

The recipes below are appropriate for people on Healthy Solutions and Phase 2.

Black Forest Smoothie
:  Chocolate and dark, sweet cherries mixed in a wonderfully decadent smoothie.

Fruity Fizz Shake:  Mixed fruit mixed with grapefruit soda makes this smoothie a real treat.

Beef Stroganoff Florentine:  You’d never guess this was ‘diet’ food. One word: Yum.

Strawberry Soft-Serve Ice Cream:  A pink, strawberry flavored dessert to end the day. Perfect!

No matter what your Valentine’s Day plans are, getting support, sharing ideas, and hearing from others can be critical. We have a very active, supportive online community that does just that. If you are looking to make a public commitment to stay “in the box,” have ideas or recipes to share, or would like ideas from others about challenging situations, please join us in the forums on this site.

We always love to hear from you, no matter what day it is.

 

 

 

by KeithVanGasken on 02/04/2013 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: Weight-Loss, HMR, Recipes, Diet Tools, motivation, in the box, mood, holidays

About the Author

Keith Van Gasken

Keith Van Gasken began obesity treatment in a clinic setting in 1982, and has been with HMR since 1992. Roles have included health educator & mentor, as well as program and product development, with a special affinity for product & recipe development. He has maintained a 100-lb. weight loss since 1982.

Comments (4) Post a comment
Hi Shelia – I work with all of our food products and our food manufacturers. Our recipe and ingredients for the cereal have not changed. We are so sorry you have received a box with packets that don’t mix right. Please return it to your program for a credit and they should replace it. So many find the cereal helpful and we want that to be the same for you too.
by ChristineWeithman on 02/07/2013
Speaking of food... I just wanted to say that the "old" multi-grain cereal was WONDERFUL and PERFECT, highly satisfying, etc. The new one is more watery, has more berries (but they are teeny tiny). Why is this? There really is no comparison. SHeila
by halohill on 02/05/2013
Yum! That sound good. You should submit that recipe to our recipe section: http://www.hmrdiet.com/Enjoy/Recipe_Submit
by KeithVanGasken on 02/10/2012
wanted to share a shake recipe that is refreshing and pink! 12 oz (or more) of diet cherry 7-Up, 1 TBSP sugar-free. fat-free cherry jello powder, 2 HMR vanilla shakes, and ice. I am sure you could put frozen cherries in for the ice, but I haven't tried it yet...
by animallvrmonique on 02/10/2012