Warm goodness

If I'm having a sweet craving I like to fix a cup of this:

1 tsp pero (you could substitute instant coffee or postum)
2 T ovaltine
1/4 cup nonfat powdered milk
3 drops stevia

Fill cup with boiling water. I usually top off with a little 1% milk to cool it down.

It's also convenient to stir in my fiber or Miralax if I'm taking those.

Cottage cheese and fruit

When I'm not having yogurt and granola, cottage cheese and fruit is another one of my favorites. Fruit that goes well with it: pineapple, canned pears, cantaloupe. In fact, I'm having it with cantaloupe right now and it's very yummy.

Edited to add: I just tried Blue Bunny brand cottage cheese (2%) and it's very good. It doesn't have that weird taste that dairy products often have. Just creamy goodness.

Healthy diet guidelines for weight loss

Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to my friend. She's not getting banded, just interested in some weight loss ideas. We have a lady in our support group who by following these guidelines is losing weight and hasn't had the surgery yet. Here's what I wrote to my friend:

My surgeon's basic guidelines is to get the following nutritional amounts daily:

60-80 grams protein (you can use protein drinks to help with this. Body Fortress is a brand you can buy at Wal-mart that doesn't taste too bad.)
no more than 20 grams of fat
no more than 100 grams of carbs
Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.

3 meals with no snacking in between. (However, if I'm hungry, I eat. I don't let myself get crazy hungry.)

Don't drink your calories. Only drink low calorie beverages or water. Don't drink soda, even diet isn't good for you. Don't drink milk. That was hard for me, but rarely do I have a drink of milk now. Watch the fruit juice, it has a lot of carbs in it.

Eat protein first, then veggies, then carbs. (This may be more for the banded people because they can only eat a small amount of food, but it's not bad advice for everyone since protein will help you feel full longer.)

Eat slowly, with small bites, putting your fork down in between. A meal should take around 20 minutes to eat. Don't eat while distracted (tv, computer, etc.)

Cut way back on white stuff. Pasta, rice, potatoes, white bread. ..all of that is really high in carbs and will not be helpful to your weight loss. I sometimes substitute the place on my plate where a starch would go, for another vegetable. For example: A chicken breast, a green salad (watch the dressing! it has a lot of fat grams), some steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli, squash, etc.) Where before it would have been chicken, rice, and veggie. I just add a salad or second vegetable.

I do allow myself treats in small amounts and I try not to do it very often. Have that cake, but only have a small piece and eat it slowly, savoring it. It really does make a difference.

So these are some of the things that have helped me take the weight off. Band or no band, they are good things to work on for healthier eating.

Potatoes and Chili

We had potatoes with chili for lunch today. I'm not supposed to eat white potatoes, so I had a bowl of chili. But, lest I feel crazy-deprived, I allowed myself about 1/4 of a potato mashed with a fork, a little butter, salt and pepper. It sure tasted divine. The chili wasn't bad either. It's got protein from the meat, plus from the kidney beans, so it's a pretty good choice.

Homemade tortillas and chicken salad

I was gifted with some fresh homemade tortillas this morning, so I had a scrambled egg, cheese and ham breakfast burrito. It was tasty, but kept getting stuck. I'm not sure if it was the tortilla or the eggs or a combination of the two that made it hard to go down. It was yummy, though.

For lunch I keep snitching the kids' chicken nuggets. Looking at the nutrition info, if I had four of them, that's 10 g of fat and that's half my daily allowance for fat. So, I'll be having a chicken salad for lunch. I usually make it like so:

Chicken, usually canned, or leftover rotisserie. I chunk that up, add a little plain yogurt and/or lite mayo, several sliced, red grapes, and some pineapple tidbits (in their own juice.). Serve this over a bed of iceberg lettuce. It's very yummy.

Hamburgers healthy style

My family had hamburgers and tater tots for dinner last night. Here's how I adapted my meal: I had a patty with no bun. Instead of American cheese, I put a tablespoon (about) of neufchatel cheese (lowfat cream cheese) on top, then added some sauteed mushrooms and onions on top. It was really good. I sprinkled the barbecue seasoning we used on the meat on it for added flavor. I did allow myself 4 or 5 tater tots. Honestly, they weren't worth the calories, for some reason they tasted sub-par.

Edited to add: Eeeek! I just checked the fat grams of the burgers we're using. One patty has 28 grams! Admittedly it was probably less because I cooked it on a broiler pan and a lot of fat drips off. Still, I'm going to have to reevaluate what patties I use when eating this. Won't be the same brand. I'm sure there are more healthy options.

Beef Fajitas

For lunch today we had strips of steak, cooked in a skillet in olive oil, sauteed onion and red and green peppers. I tucked that inside of a small fajita size tortilla and put a little shredded cheddar and guacamole on it. Yum.

Mock Cannolis

I make a little concoction to satisfy a sweet tooth.

About 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
4 drops stevia (or 2 T powdered sugar)
1/4 t cinnamon (or to taste)
1 T mini chocolate chips

I mix it together and eat it with a graham cracker. It's pretty yummy. I'll have to do the nutritional value of it at some point so I can see if it really is a good choice.

A common dinner

We often have something resembling what we ate for dinner tonight. A lean meat with veggies and a salad or fruit. Tonight we had a rotisserie chicken from Wal-mart and canned green beans and fresh strawberries. As always, I don't drink with my meals. I wait until 30 minutes have passed at least before I drink. Band rules.

Yogurt and granola

I love greek yogurt. Fage is my favorite, but not available here in Goodland. I have bought it when we're in Denver and actually use it as a starter and make my own in my Salton yogurt maker.

For breakfast most days I put a couple of scoops of yogurt into a bowl, sweeten with Stevia and maybe a little powdered sugar and then put 1/2 to 1 cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, Honey and Flax seed cereal on top. It's so tasty and very filling.

Chicken Cacciatore

I made this in the crockpot yesterday. I don't know the nutritional breakdown of it yet, but it was yummy and I know it's healthy.

2 1/2 pounds of chicken parts (I used a bag of chicken thighs with bones, but took the skins off)
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves of fresh garlic, pressed
1 can mushroom pieces
30 ounces of canned diced tomatoes
1/4 t pepper
1 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano

Cook for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high.

Serve over hot spaghetti, though it's really good as just a soup.

What I'm eating

So often at Lapbandtalk people ask "What are you eating?" They want to know how people who are successful at losing weight are eating. I also want a place for myself to review how I'm doing and keep track good healthy foods and meals that I've discovered. So without further ado: What I'm eating.