So What Can I Eat for this Diet???

I'm always wondering what delicious, fattening, unhealthy foods I have to give up in order to start a new diet.  Well, this one is no exception.  There goes my PIZZA.  I figure I will crave the crust, the savory sauce and stringy cheese.  Say good-bye to cake, cookies, ice cream, and all kinds of other good stuff.

But ya know...believe it or not I have never missed it, even when others are eating those things around me. Go figure!  I'm not sure exactly why.  On all the other diets (OK, don't tell anyone else about this) I had incredible cravings that were so strong that I had to occasionally go downstairs in the  middle of the night and satisfy those cravings.  More than once, I would hear my kids say the next day, "what happened to those 15 chocolate chip cookies that were here before we went to bed last night?"  Or they would say something like, "hey, how come there's no white cream inside these Oreo's?  

So, what am I doing?  

Here's an example of what I might do for some meals.  For starters, for breakfast, I'll start off with a chocolate Jay Robb shake and put in a couple or three teaspoons of Benefiber.  I make it with almond milk and believe me when I tell ya, you cannot taste the difference between the almond milk and regular milk.   For the real food, I have taken one of the Ezekiel 4:9® Organic Sprouted Whole Grain English Muffins and top with a teaspoon of Nature's Hollow sugar free preserves on each side of the muffin. I have found the Ezekiel products in the frozen food sections of Whole Foods and several different grocery stores in my area (Richmond, VA).

Before I continue, if you're anything like me the first thought in your mind when you read sprouted whole grain was "CARDBOARD."  But these are surprisingly good! Jorge also recommends Rudi's english muffins but I haven't found them around my area yet.

Now where was I?  Oh yeah, I was going to tell you about Nature's Hollow products.  Another one of Jorge's recommendations.   I buy Nature's Hollow at Amazon. They are all sugar free and made with Xylitol.  Now the preserves are delicious! The ketchup is good, but definitely not Heinz.  The maple syrup is pretty good, though not as thick as I'd like.  The honey is definitely lacking in taste and texture. Hickory Maple Barbeque Sauce is another item.  I kind of like it and I'll have to tell you later (if I can remember) how I've used it.

I think I digressed....breakfast!  That's right.  Thanks for the reminder.... With the English muffin I'll have some turkey sausage or beef bacon, or turkey ham, or all three (Heck I don't care....I'm hungry in the morning.  You can have regular sausage or bacon if you want...we just don't eat pork in the house. Add a cup of coffee to that and it's a decent meal.  The Jay Robb shake with the Benefiber and the high fiber English muffin really helps fill you up and keep you full until lunch.

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH????

Now, I work at home so I can do this easily...or you can also have this for dinner...PIZZA....no no no...not Italian Pizza but enough to keep you satisfied.  I start off with a whole wheat pita.   I get mine at WalMart.  I always look for whole wheat pitas with no more than 2 gm of sugar and what would be 1 serving of carbs (between 21-40).  THEN, I use Ragu Homestyle Pizza Sauce.  If you get Ragu, ya  GOTTA GOTTA use this particular one because there's no added sugar.  If you use another sauce, make sure there's no added sugar or corn syrup.  I use about 2 tablespoons of sauce and then pile on some mozzarella cheese.    If you want you can top with some pepperoni (I use the Hormel turkey pepperoni). Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and enjoy!   To drink, I'll pop open a can of my new favorite ZERO CALORIE soda: ZEVIA!!!!  So I've got the fiber from the wheat pita and it makes a pretty good pizza.  Add a small salad and you are a ready-Freddie.  And the Zevia takes care of my sweet tooth!

Dinner!!!!

Wow!  This one can be pretty easy.  I love steak or chicken or pasta.  PASTA????  Yes...I will eat pasta...but only WHOLE WHEAT or whole grain pasta.  I do follow the serving information....like 1/2 cup means HALF OF CUP.   The problem is trying to find a whole wheat or whole grain pasta with as few carbs, lots of fiber BUT does not taste like cardboard.  I'm still checking the different brands and I'll have to get back to you with my taste testings.   So far the one I like the best is Eden Foods Kamut spirals.  In the interest of my readers, I will go back and taste test the others and let you know which ones you might want to stay away from!  The things I do for you guys!  Hope you appreciate it!!!

Durn, I did it again...I got off track....we were talking about dinner.  With the pasta I'll heat up some marinara (again, I look for those that are made only with tomatoes, olive oil, etc. but NO NO NO sugar or corn syrup or other sweeteners.)  You have to take a look at the label for the serving amount.  Tomatoes have a lot of natural sugar so you need to keep that in mind before putting it on the pasta. Instead of the marinara, you could also just heat up some butter/margarine or olive oil, and some fresh garlic and use that as a sauce.  Have some green beans, broccoli or other veggie, a salad and you're doing great for dinner.

That's only ONE idea for a day's meal....just to give you an example.  Jorge has meal ideas using whole wheat or whole grain tortillas and making a number of different types of sandwiches....You can be creative, but remember what I said in a previous post....GET IN THE HABIT OF READING THE NUTRITION LABELS.