Veggies: I Gotta Sneak ‘Em In

I’ve talked before about my general dislike for most vegetables. I’m learning to eat soups with some mixed in, but I do well to get 1-2 servings of veggies a day. I never get anywhere near the recommended 5-6 servings per day. I ran across this post at Diets In Review on how to work more of them into your diet. I’m going to try a few of these tips. Who knows, maybe I’ll even find a couple of more veggies that I actually do like.

15 Sneaky Vegetable Tips

1. Hide veggies you kind of like in dishes you love. For example, add peppers or mushrooms to an omelet or layer fresh spinach leaves in lasagna.
2. Add to soup. When making homemade soup, fill with your favorite veggies. Or, bolster the veggie content of reduced-sodium soups by adding more carrots, green beans or edamame.
3. Fill a salad. Use spinach leaves and baby greens instead of lettuce, and fill with every vegetable you like.
4. Serve raw. Some people prefer the fresh crunch, texture and flavor of uncooked vegetables.
5. Dip them. Dip vegetables in a low-cal dip like hummus, salsa or a light dressing.
6. Go Italian. Pizza and pasta are great places to hide veggies like mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, fresh basil leaves, or artichokes.
7. Drink them. Make your own veggie juice at home, or try quality brands like V8. For a sweeter alternative, try V8 Splash.
8. Make it fun. Grilled vegetable kabobs, corn on the cob, stuffed mushrooms or peppers are all fun finger foods that kids and adults will rave about.
9. Grill. The flavor of grilled vegetables cannot be beat. Lightly brush with olive oil and asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers and eggplant perfectly complement any meal.
10. Learn to cook them properly. The stronger flavored or more bitter tasting vegetables, like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and eggplant, need special attention when cooking. Try saute or stir-fry, or add special flavors like balsamic vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice.
11. Surprise yourself. Put roasted red peppers on a sandwich, include fresh basil in a wrap or stuff a pita with shredded cabbage. Unexpected flavor in familiar places will change your thinking.
12. Choose fresh. If all you’ve ever had are canned vegetables, you don’t like them for a reason! Steamed, grilled and roasted fresh vegetables have a completely different flavor and texture.
13. Fast-food veggies count. Get salads, carrot and celery sticks or a baked potato. Just be mindful of the calories in dressings, sauces and dips.
14. No prizes. Don’t reward yourself or the kids for positive vegetable behavior. You’ll learn to like the treat, and forget to learn to like the veggies.
15. Be cheesy! Bake veggies topped with low-fat or skim milk cheese for a gooey treat.

Salt is the Devil!

That’s what I’ve decided anyway. I don’t eat a lot of table salt. As a matter of fact, I very rarely add any table salt to the foot I’m eating. But often there is a lot of salt already in the foods that we eat, especially if you eat out. Pre-packaged foods often have a lot of salt in them also.

I can remember a few seasons back on The Biggest Loser, Jillian had a team member who was working out like crazy and wasn’t overeating but could not seem to get his weight to go down. There was one small thing he wasn’t recording on his food logs because he didn’t think it really mattered. He was marinating his meats in soy sauce, which is absolutely loaded with salt. I thought Jillian was going to kill him. She had him cut out the soy sauce, and his weight starting melting off again. Problem solved!

This past weekend, I went out to eat with my mom a couple of times. I didn’t add any salt to any of my food at all, but I noticed that shortly after leaving the restaurants that my fingers were swelling and I felt bloated all over. WAY too much sodium! And I paid for it on the scale this week too! When I weighed myself Monday morning, I had gained three pounds back. I could still feel the swelling though and chose to wait until Tuesday before weighing in. All day Monday, I guzzled water trying to flush all the salt out. Tuesday, I found that I had gotten the scale to go back down some, but hadn’t lost any weight this week. :( I was hoping to get get down into the 220s this past week but it just didn’t happen. I’m pushing for it this week though!

So far this week I’m doing okay, but not fabulous. I still feel bloated and swollen some, but I’m guzzling water again today and I took a water pill. Three days later, I still feel like crap! THE DEVIL, I tell you! SALT IS THE DEVIL! I need to keep this in mind next time I want to go out to eat… that if I eat crap loaded with sodium, I’m going to feel like crap for days!

The birthday party weekend trainwreck!

I think it went beyond trainwreck, but I can’t think of anything worse than that right now. My little girl turned 2 yrs old today, but we celebrated on Saturday. I made a cake and ate it, and ate and ate and ate. I think Reese’s kids finished it off! Thanks guys, appreciate it!

It all started Thursday night with Supernatural and Pizza Hut pizza and breadsticks. Then it went to Olive Garden on Friday night. Saturday it was grilled chicken, mac salad and potato salad washed down with birthday cake. Sunday it was Cici’s for lunch and a big burger for dinner. Tonight it was mexican at my brother in law’s house. None of the above are truly good for you, especially when not portioned right.

It ok though. I’m walking (hopefully just walking) with Reese tomorrow, I hope, and I get back on the wagon tomorrow. Wish me luck

Gotta Have a Game Plan

So ladies, how’s it going? Are you still hanging in there? We’ve made it through the first work week and have the weekend yet to survive. I’ve managed to maintain a reasonable amount of self control this week and I’m pretty stoked about that. Tomorrow will be my test though. My family and I are going out to dinner to spend the Red Lobster gift cards we all got each other for Christmas. I’ve been scouring the online menu already trying to decide what I can have. The cheese biscuits may very well be the death of me. Seriously. Do you know the love I have for these delicious morsels of heaven? The cheese. The garlic. My gosh. I don’t care for fish. Maybe I can get some grilled shrimp. Well, we’ll see. If worst comes to worst, I still have all of my WW flex points for the week. Wish me luck!

Update: Hark! I found exactly what I needed! The nutritional info! Cheddar Bay Biscuits are 4 WW points each! I’m so screwed! LOL

Ok Ladies, News Flash

Ok, how many of us ladies are using Crystal Light?  I’m one of them, and that is coming to an abrupt halt.

After looking at the Nutrition Facts of Crystal Light and the Facts of Special K2O its obvious that Special K is better for you.  You see, Crystal Light directions say to use an entire packet for a 16.9-oz bottle of water.  Well, the recommended serving size is 1/2 a packet. 

Here are the Facts for 1/2 packet of Crystal Light:  5 Calories, 75mg of Sodium, 30mg of Potassium.  Now double that for the entire packet.  Absolutely, astonishing.

Here are the Facts for an entire packet of Special K2O: 30 Calories, 35mg of Sodium, 6g of Carbs., and 5g of Protein, and 5g of Fiber.

Sure there are more calories, but also more of the good stuff, like protein, and fiber.  I, for one, will be using Special K from now on.  I just thought that anyone who is using the alternative would like to know.

Day 2

Today is going a little better.  I had a grilled cheese sammie (like 2) for lunch and a bottle of water.  Later for a snack I had a couple of bananas and more water.  For dinner, we’re having beef, bell pepper, onion, and broccoli stir-fry with white rice, and yet MORE water.  I had some activity today, if you count cleaning and dancing to my iPod at the same time.  My kids loved it, they acted like complete baffoons!  Ok, we all did *S*! 

I’m thinking of doing some lunges tonight as well, something, anything to work my legs and my booty.

I’m also taking an appetite surpresssant.  Slim Seduction, helps you eat less and boosts your libido!!!  Hmmm, maybe I should put my hubby on it!  LOL

On a side note, my hubby says that he doesn’t mind my weight much or where it’s distributed other than my calves and ankles.  He says I can’t pull off a skirt at all, like most heavier women can.  Kinda hurt my feelings a bit.  Oh well, he won’t be able to complain much longer.

I’ll be checking my weight again next week, then I’ll post it.

Grrr, damn I’m starving!  I had those bananas 3 and a half  hours ago.

Day 1

Ok, so I weighed myself this morning.  An astonishing 220lbs.  I had 6 bite-sized pig-in-a-blankets and some water for breakfast.  For lunch I had a Healthy Choice pasta thingy, thought about having another and thought better of it and stopped at one (yay!).  I started getting the munchies this afternoon.  I get bored and I have a tendency to eat.  So I had 4 graham crackers.  Got the munchies again when I got angry at my hubby because he was 2 hours later coming home from work without calling me to let know that he was gonna be late, and ended up eating like 5 huge pieces of dried out beef jerky (not so yay).  Then we had Chipotle for dinner, which consisted of a veggie burrito with extra rice, black beans, pico, guac, cheese and sour cream.  I hate to think of the calories I consumed today.  ‘

The only small consolation I have is that I didn’t make that box of mac and cheese that I was craving and that I only have ONE soda today.  The last one in the 12 pack I bought at the end of last week.  I’ve had 5 bottles of water today.  I feel like I’m making sloshing noises whenever I walk.

I definately didn’t sleep well last night.  Then again I didn’t drink a lot of water yesterday.  I dosed and tossed and turned until 6am, slept lightly until 8:30am when my hubby woke me up.  I was so exhausted and achy (I don’t know why I was achy) that I told him to just go ahead and take the car to work.

Ugh!  I feel crappy.  Maybe I’ll do better tomorrow.  My ideal menu would be: a bowl of Special K, and a banana for breakfast, same for lunch and some beef, pepper, and broccoli stir-fry for dinner.  I’ll let you know how that goes!