Meal Ideas

I had a friend ask me for some meal ideas.  I though I would share them here also.  One thing about eating the way I have been is there's not as much variety.  So I am always looking for new ideas.  Here's what I have so far.  I learned a lot of this from my sister.  

Basic Tips:

My main carbs are oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and brown rice.  I occasionally do whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread or cheerios.  The minimal carbs is for weight loss.  I will add in more carbs once I reach my goal weight. Foods I avoid on a regular basis due to high fat or carbs: avocado, olives, corn, salmon, red meat, sugar. 

We try to eat as much from the garden as possible. When I say fresh vegetables here are some of the options I do:

sauteed  (with fat free cooking spray only) zucchini, squash, and onion

sauteed or boiled green beans with fresh garlic

fresh- tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, carrots, spinach

sauteed okra

Other vegetables, steamed broccoli, brussel sprouts, sugar snap peas

Breakfast:

* English Muffin sandwhich.  English muffin (whole wheat if possible), 3 egg whites (cooked kind of like an omlet), turkey bacon. 

* Oatmeal (unsweetened) egg white omlet (options: spinach, mushrooms, salsa, fat free cheese, peppers, onions)

*Plain cheerios with skim milk and fruit or turkey bacon or 2 boiled egg whites

pretty much every morning I do eggs. It adds good protein first thing in the morning

Lunch:

*Sweet Potato with fresh vegetables (raw when possible)

*salad with black beans, boiled egg whites, and fresh vegetables

*Tuna (with mustard and sometimes onion), sometimes with one slice of bread, fresh vegetables

*Pasta salad made with fat free cheese and dressing with fresh veggies added.  

*Brown Rice with Pinto Beans and fresh vegetables 

If i'm going to have additional carbs, I try to eat it here and avoid it for dinner. Same goes for fruits.

Dinner:

*Salad (always dark green lettuce, no iceberg with spinach) with Grilled Chicken Breasts (pat breasts with fresh basil and pepper) with fat free dressing

*Grilled/ sauteed tilapia (or any other white fish that's low in fat and high in protein) cooked with garlic powder and fresh lemon squeeze

*When I fix spaghetti for the family, I do a small amount of spaghetti sauce with a large portion of lean ground turkey and green beans and spinach. 

*Turkey Burgers without the bun (lean ground turkey, chopped onion, garlic powder), with fresh tomatoes and onion, and salad

*Lean Pork tenderloin with salad or fresh vegetables

*Salad with grilled chicken, strawberries, fat free cheese, and vinaigrette dressing

*Shepherds Pie: cooked Ground turkey, mixed vegetables, Mashed cauliflower (boil, drain, mash, add pepper, garlic powder, and fat free cheese), topped with fat free cheddar cheese. 

*stir Fry- Sauteed sugar snap peas, green onion whites and greens, carrots, edamame, bell pepper, and fresh garlic and herbs, chicken. (cook chicken in pan, set aside, saute vegetables, add chicken back)

Snacks:

*1/2 scoop of EAS chocolate soy protein shake made with skim milk.   First thing in the morning before exercise

*fat free cottage cheese with fresh tomato

*fruit 

*celery and homemade salsa

*fat free yogurt and fruit

*raw broccoli, cauliflower

Weight Loss:  I am down 21 lbs and two sizes.  This has been great so far.  Please pray for continued perseverance and motivation.  I am up to running 17 minutes, with 5  1/2 min. intervals. 

The Busy-ness of Life

Well, the past couple of weeks have been the busiest things have been in a while.  I am in the middle of studying for a a test to validate my teaching license.  VBS is going on at church.  Along with all the other responsibilities of being a stay at home mom.  This has been a good test for my new lifestyle of eating healthy.  In the past, I would eat the quickest food I could grab when I was on the go.  Now, because I am being very conscious of what I'm eating, and I don't want to mess it up just because I'm in a hurry, I am learning to plan ahead.  It's actually helped me to get organized and even get places on time occasionally (only occasionally =) )  I have started thinking through every night what I will eat the next day. Snacks and meals.  This has been very beneficial for my eating plan.  But it's also helped my stress level.  I think through the next day what we will do, get everything set out, and prepare whatever needs to be prepared.  When I wake up in the morning I am ready to go.  It makes the morning and breakfast go so much smoother.  It also makes eating healthy much easier.  I find that when I'm very hungry, something healthy doesn't always sound the best.  But when it's already prepared I don't mind eating it.  Ultimately food is fuel, and I just need something to eat.  It doesn't have to be the best tasting thing in the world.  Which is actually what I've been avoiding for a while.

Running update:

I'm still walking 6 mornings a week.  I have been building up to running.  This week I have been doing 15 min. total running.  I do 5 different running times (3, 3, 2, 3, 4).  I am learning to really enjoy it.  The time goes by very quickly and it has become a refreshing quiet time with the Lord in the morning.  And it feels good to do something for myself that I enjoy that doesn't really have anything to do with being a mommy or a wife.  I think it actually makes me enjoy those things more.  

Being Away From Home

So far... I have found that staying at home is the easiest way to stay on track.  When I am hungry, I can be sure that each meal or snack is nutritious and I know exactly what's in it.  I remember to eat and get my minimum of 5 times of eating in a day.  When I'm away I forget to eat sometimes because we get busy.  At home it's a controlled environment.  But I realize I can't be a hermit and stay at home all the time.  There are people we enjoy spending time with and things we have to do.  So I'm getting better about having snacks with me.  I do it for the kids, so it's really not that much more to do.  The other thing is to keep water with me.  If I don't then half the day goes by and I haven't had my water.  

This weekend we went to my husbands parents.  My mother-in-law had meals planned for the whole time.  I just brought the few things I needed to stay on track with my eating plan.  It was so nice to have the weekend off.  I didn't have to figure out what to fix for the rest of the crew.  I am doing my best to bring my family along with me on this journey.  But, there are some things I'm doing to get the weight off quickly that isn't really reasonable for a grown man and two little ones.  Like eating spinach for a snack or No carbs after late afternoon.  By the next morning I feel a little cranky and ready to eat, so I'm not interested in making them do that too! And the rest of the house doesn't want any part in this no salt and butter business.  I can handle that, I never really added a ton to begin with and they all eat the fresh veggies.  

This weekend marked the end of week 4 and I'm just about done with Month 1. Still pushing forward and learning new meal ideas with all the fresh vegetables and low -fat meats. For a little while longer, no carbs for dinner.  I try my best to make a dinner we can all eat and then I just don't have the carbs.  I'll let you know how that goes.  It's been challenging so far.  3 days down.  At least 4 more to go, maybe 11 more. 

New Snack

Snacks

This has been a challenge for me.  Now that I've been going at this for four weeks.  I'm ready to switch things up a bit.  One thing I love about cooking is that you can always do something different.  That hasn't necessarily felt like the case with all of this.  But I'm learning.  I would love to hear recipe ideas for meals and snacks from other people. 

A friend of mine told me about a new snack.  I am thrilled with it.   It is so yummy.  Celery with salsa.  Now, you have to like celery.  And the salsa is homemade.  The salsa is 3 cups Fresh tomatoes, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 med onion, 3 T fresh, chopped cilantro.  I pulse it a couple of times in the blender.  I keep all of these things on hand because our family loves salsa.  And I have a ton of tomatoes from the garden.  But I've been torn, because I am not eating chips.  Well my friend told me about the celery and salsa.  Great snack.  Feels like a treat.  

Monday Morning Exercise

So I have realized something.  It is always hardest for me to exercise on Mondays.  I exercise Monday-Saturday, and take Sunday's off.  Getting back into it Monday morning is really difficult. 

 I get to sleep in on Sunday mornings and it is a wonderful day of rest.  

As I'm walking Monday morning, I find it hard to get motivated to push myself harder.  A lot of self- talk goes on.  "Come on, where's my energy?"  "You had a whole day off, surely you can do this."  But I've realized something.  My new goal:  Monday mornings, I am out there.  I push myself to go the full time.  Even if I don't go as hard as most days.  Even if I don't run any.  I am there.  And I find that Tuesdays always seem easier. The hardest thing about adding exercise back in my life has been consistency.  I think that in itself is a great goal.  So, today I went.  I will probably do something else later in the day when my energy comes back. (Random squats or leg lifts, recommended by my brother-in-law, which my husband and mother think is hilarious) 

So... even on a dreary Monday morning, I choose to get up and get moving. Woo Hoo!

Take Out anyone?

Since i've been doing this, I have been amazed at the foods /lack of foods restaraunts offer. I have realized that most restaurants to do not even offer more than 1 or 2 plain vegetables. By plain I mean not creamed, fried, or mixed with something high in calories. Not even counting the butter and salt they add.  A lot of places do not even offer salads with any kind of lettuce except iceburg.  (which has very little nutritional value)  Most places, their overall menu consists of meats that are high in fat, entrees with very large portions, and a lack of healthy options.  It's amazing to me what we as Americans have told the restaurants what we want and WILL buy.  We have backed ourselves in to a corner where a lot of restaurants do not even offer healthy choices.  And things they say are "healthy" aren't even reasonable in calories and fat content.  For instance a fried chicken salad, offered at many restaurants ranges anywhere from 600-1100 calories.  (That's without the dressing)

The source that I have used to find a lot of information is  www.thedailyplate.com   I have decided the smartest way to eat out (when I have to, because it's not even enjoyable these days) is to research ahead of time and find something that is reasonable to eat and that I can live with, knowing how many calories it has. I think that restaurants should be required to list the calories and fat content in each menu item.  You know why they won't ever do this?Because we wouldn't buy it if we knew how bad it really was.  And they purposely put it in there to make it taste better and make us come back. 

Here are some of my recent findings of two of our families favorite restaurants. 

Steak 'N Shake

Food Item	Servings	Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein
Steak And Shake Original Double Cheeseburger With Everything	1.00	540	32g	90mg	947mg	33g	7g	1g	27g	x
Steak And Shake Chili (cup)	1.00	389	26g	64mg	1,120mg	17g	1g	7g	21g	x
Steak And Shake Regular Fries	1.00	472	23g	0mg	701mg	66g	0g	5g	4g	x
Steak And Shake Chocolate Shake	1.00	734	22g	74mg	388mg	120g	105g	3g	19g	x

Click totals for charts!	Totals:	2,135	103g	228mg	3,156mg	236g	113g	16g	71g
% of your daily value		106.75%	157.69%	76%	131.5%	78.67%	n/a	n/a	142%
		Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein

Can you believe that?  2100 Calories for a burger, fries, chili, and a chocolate shake? Now I know that's a lot of food, and I can see a man eating all this food way before I would.  But still the shake alone is 700 calories.

Here's another one.  The Cheesecake Factory.  We love it.  Well at least I did. Now I am kind of afraid of it. 

Food Item	Servings	Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein
Cheesecake Factory Avocado Eggrolls	1.00	958	8g	0mg	1,131mg	104g	0g	0g	0g	x
Cheesecake Factory Shrimp With Angel Hair	1.00	845	2g	0mg	1,586mg	106g	0g	0g	0g	x
Cheesecake Factory Adam's Peanutbutter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake	1.00	930	59g	195mg	490mg	93g	0g	0g	0g	x

Click totals for charts!	Totals:	2,883	69g	195mg	3,221mg	303g	0g	0g	0g
% of your daily value		144.15%	106.31%	65%	134.21%	101%	n/a	n/a	0%
		Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein

This is a common meal I would order (keep in mind I would share the appetizer with my husband and probably have leftovers, but to even consume all these calories in two sittings is pretty bad) This is a lot of food that we would go and eat on special occasions, but any one of these alone is mind boggling to me. 

I do have to brag on Bonefish Grill. They have several different meats to choose between, all sauces offered on the side, and a very nice House salad. We had a date night planned the other night. I looked into 3 different restaurants (just based on menu options, not even looking into calories) before I came to Bonefish. I was pleased with a few things to choose from on their menu and the eating out experience was great. Needless to say, I study long and hard before we eat out now. 

Detox

One thing that I noticed from the beginning is it was going to take some work to go through a detox process.  When your diet consists of a lot of sugar and complex carbs, it seems to mask your taste buds and cause you to crave more sugar. From the beginning, I slowly started taking out almost all sugar and as many bad carbs as possible.  I have only been drinking water. (a lot of cold water- about 100 oz a day)  No desserts (with a few exceptions).  No added salt. Main carbs being sweet potato, oatmeal, and long grain brown rice.  Breads are occasional and are whole wheat.  After the first few days of feeling hungry all the time and learning to like the green vegetables and other foods, I started to like them more and more.  By taking out the sugar, salt, and bad carbs, the other foods started to taste really good to me.  Now the other foods taste very rich and make my stomach hurt.  Between the exercise and food changes, I have had amazing amounts of energy. 

Inspiration

Well, here's my new blog.  I am inspired to share what has been going on in my life.  I have decided to take charge of recent weight gain and unhealthy eating habits.  This is the first time I am truly giving this part of my life to the Lord.  I started this journey on June 15 and am still going strong.  From day one I started adding exercise in.  I am walking and building up to running 6 days a week. There have been several things to encourage me.  I have been doing a class at church called Healthy Lifestyle.  We have talked about several different topics including, exercise, healthy food choices, what to eat, when to eat, posture, sabbath rest and fasting.  It inspired me to make some changes. One thing I learned that has been significant is to eat when I'm hungry.  Eating the right portion sizes and right foods means I eat at least 5 times a day. (Generally every 2-3 hours)  This keeps the metabolism going strong.  I also heard about a book on the radio.  "Never Say Diet" by Chantel Hobbs.  My sister and brother-in-law have recently made a drastic life style change also.  They have been very encouraging to me. 

After trying many times, what makes it different this time? I have realized that this body is a gift from the Lord and I want to use it to glorify Him.  I am realizing that food is simply fuel.  Not the opportunity for pleasure that it has become for me many times. In the past three weeks I have found myself looking around at other people eating things that are yummy to me.   I have tasted many yummy things all the time, for a long time.  So for now, it's time to deny myself of a little pleasure and rely on Christ to be my strength.  I am also developing new taste buds and a desire for healthy foods.