How defeating it was to think my whole life was going to consist of bland, tasteless food ... not including the hot wings of course (YUMMY).
The closest I came to breaking down over food was when my husband and I went grocery shopping .... I thought, mmmmmmm juice. I was always raised thinking juice was a health food and I always prided myself that I would grab a glass of cranberry juice when dad grabbed a Pepsi, though I drank my fair share of that too. .... I grabbed my favorite blend, cranberry/blueberry juice. And, like I was told, flipped it over to read the label. .... The sugars were sky high and the fiber was completely gone, removed in the juicing process. My husband got onto me for even thinking I could have juice.
I felt tears come to my eyes as I put the juice down .... for the rest of my life, the only things I can drink is water, un-sweet tea, and black coffee. :(
So for the next month, that's all I drank ... and I ate mostly veggies and meat .... and I lost 12 lbs!
But life isn't about diets ... It's about living and living healthy. There had to be a way to eat what I love and still live healthy. My problem was that I didn't know how to prepare healthy meals or where to even begin. So I started researching good carbs hoping to bring back in some of my old favorites.
I don't have to give up the things I love! I may not lose weight as quickly as I did before, but life is more enjoyable. I think at this point, I'm trying to find a balance. I am having a lot of meals that aren't bad for me, I just need to cut back these good carb meals back to about 1 or 2 meals a week and focus on low carb the rest of the week .... right now I'm around 4-5 good carb meals a week, and frankly, I haven't been paying close attention to my Carb Budget. If I just started doing that, I think the weight would start falling off again. .... And this week is the week! I am going to focus on behaving and kicking my discipline back in.
But here it is, my list of simple switches so you can enjoy your favorites every now and then:
1. TACO TACO, BURRITO, BURRITO, TACO TACO.
Switch out soft shelled tacos for hard shelled tacos at Taco Bell and save yourself TONS of carbs. Not to mention, corn is a whole grain and better for us.
When making tacos at home however, the best thing to do is go with a high fiber soft shell taco or low carb soft shell taco.
2. BURGERS AND HOTDOGS
You can buy whole grain buns if you want to be apart of a group, but if it's just you and the family, put the burgers and dogs on a slice of whole grain bread. Seriously, read that package ... buns have a lot more carbs in them than slices of bread. And remember, they are whole grain, so they won't affect your blood sugar the way white bread would.
3. PASTA
There are three types of pasta available for us: Whole Grain Pasta (in the regular pasta aisle), Quinoa Pasta (Health food section), and Brown Rice Pasta (Health food section). But still try and limit your intake of carbs for that meal. Pass on the garlic bread and start the meal with a side salad so you won't gorge on the deliciousness of pasta.
4. PIZZA
Kashi now makes a 7 grain frozen pizza covered with veggies. Again, you should have a side salad to lower your carb intake for the meal. ... It's no Dominoes, but hey, it's yummy. .... And if you want to burn a cheat day and have pizza ordered in, stick with thin and crispy and you'll save a ton ... but remember, have hot wings or salad on the side to lessen your carb intake for the night.
5. BISCUITS
SYKE! There's no good substitute that I've found for the delicious buttery goodness of biscuits ... but I'll keep looking ... though it doesn't look good. And BTW, I haven't found a good cookie either.
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