Fat - Be - Gone

[Jersey Girl]

Okay ceebs, I'm gettin real here. I have to pick up groceries tomorrow, right? I'm out of salad stuff, out of most produce, out of my wheat crackers. This is what I am eating for lunch. Yup, I took a pic of it for you. The paper plate is the size you would put a slice of pie on, okay? This is me making something out of nothing based on slim pickin's. A glass of water with this. That's my studio table I am eating on and have the computer in front of me. So no, our table doesn't look like a cutting mat.

So...rock bottom ain't got much else to eat lunch today...



If you notice, the cheese is the least of it, but it's still there. Five crackers (the only kind I have left because I rarely eat saltines but we have them) are the label portion. The rest is half of an apple that is basically the largest portion. Yes, folks, this is how weird I have gotten compared to the old me and what I used to eat. The old me, would have taken the cheese and made a grilled cheese out of this, fried it with margarine, and I would have never eaten the fruit or drank the water.

I'll be making the meatless pumpkin chili for dinner tonight because that is what I have left right now.

[Jersey Girl]

I'm looking at this one, ceebs, because I like chips probably as much as you do.

I also had chips, a bowl of ice cream and cookies this week. Simply put, not so good for food for this week.

Let's say you like chips (you do!) how bad would it be if you made your own tortilla chips and used salsa as a dip? What about hummus? It takes hardly any time at all to bake your own tortilla chips. Get some tortillas (flour or corn, don't care, just try it) cut them into triangles like you would a pizza, spray or brush on some olive or canola. Then bake. I usually flip mine over once, but you don't need to.

I don't really use salsa but I do make hummus. I absolutely love the homemade tortilla chips and so does the big guy. You could have them with the meatless pumpkin chili.

So... looking at the sweet stuff there. I am going to be roasting walnuts with pure maple syrup on them this week to see if I like that. I would usually eat walnuts as they come out of the bag but I do like to roast them. My intention is to make the maple roasted walnuts into something like the airplane snack I told you about previously or do a kind of pop corn snack thing. Just for a bit of variety.

My old self would have NEVER done any of the above. I would have gotten me a big bag of Cheetos or Ranch/cheddar/sour cream Ruffles, or Doritos and eaten the whole bag in one day--I am not kidding here. And if I had sour cream and onion dip, I'd have that with the chips. I am NOT exaggerating when I say that a bag of chips wouldn't have lasted more than one day in my house.

Anyway, I am posting about this because we can talk baby carrots and fruit until we're blue in the face here but I used to be a total chip addict and these are some of the things I do differently now.

ceebs could you try trading out chips for popcorn? I make mine on the stove in a pot the old fashioned way...no salt no butter. I do like it very much!

Just throwing out ideas to you here...

[Jersey Girl]

And ceebs (sorry for all the posts, I'm trying to get this done before moving on here) didn't you say you were on BP meds? If so, I can offer you a way to scare yourself silly--if scare tactics are something what works with you--what helps one person, doesn't help the next so...

A low sodium diet is like 1500 mgs of sodium in a day. I think the normal intake is like 2400 mgs per day.

Grab yourself all the chips you usually eat and put them on a plate. Then...(no cheating!!) go back to the bag and calculate the sodium content of what is on your plate.

[canpakes]

By the way, Ceeboo, I think that things would be just about perfect if I lost 5 pounds, but I am definitely NOT being cautious about eating this morning. Fall is in the air, and I’ve already had some eggs for breakfast, some homemade peach cobbler, some chicken, a small bowl of split pea soup and a few delicious sweet ‘Hawaiian’ rolls (aahhgh! Bread!!) with butter, now that lunchtime is here. Not gonna lie; most days I’d only would have had a single yogurt up until this point because I’m not much for big morning meals either, but today just feels like a day for a little more.

I’m not feeling bad about it, either. I’ll just eat less tonight. : )

So, don’t get too hung up on your ‘meal to meal’ variations if you’re still meeting your overall goals. You’re solidifying a walking habit, even if slowly, and you’ve already dropped a bit of weight. This is good.

[Jersey Girl]

By the way, Ceeboo, I think that things would be just about perfect if I lost 5 pounds, but I am definitely NOT being cautious about eating this morning. Fall is in the air, and I’ve already had some eggs for breakfast, some homemade peach cobbler, some chicken, a small bowl of split pea soup and a few delicious sweet ‘Hawaiian’ rolls (aahhgh! Bread!!) with butter, now that lunchtime is here. Not gonna lie; most days I’d only would have had a single yogurt up until this point because I’m not much for big morning meals either, but today just feels like a day for a little more.

I’m not feeling bad about it, either. I’ll just eat less tonight. : )

So, don’t get too hung up on your ‘meal to meal’ variations if you’re still meeting your overall goals. You’re solidifying a walking habit, even if slowly, and you’ve already dropped a bit of weight. This is good.

Yeah that! canpakes is having what the heck is wanted for a cozy fall breakfast and will trade off later in the day.

canpakes you think a LOT like I do. Plugging in the new walking habit is huge step forward, no pun intended!!

Everyone has their own way of looking at and thinking about things. I have no doubt that ceeboo will find what resonates with him.

[canpakes]

Jersey Girl, I like your suggestion about apples, too. I’ve taken to eating more as the ratio of ‘eating time vs. calories’ is good, and there are usually some excellent varieties at the market year-round (Honeycrisp is our favorite). Good for the gut, as well, and satisfies a sweet craving.

And avocados … yes, they’re not ‘low calorie’, but they help fill you up while tasting great and having good nutritional value. These make it into our meals and salads pretty often, but I’ll also happily slice up and salt a half of an avocado as a ‘side’ in a dinner time meal.

Ceeboo, if you like avocados, try dicing one up bare and scooping your tortilla chips into them when you want to snack on the latter. You’ll fill up quicker with fewer chips, and with an extra guilt-free nutritional boost. : )

[Jersey Girl]

canpakes I see that a lot of the youtubers I watch who eat healthy, have avocado toast? Do you do that and if so, how do you prepare it and do you really like it? Sometimes they put an egg on top of the toast?

Your thoughts on this?

Avocados, while the calories might be higher, are considered a source of healthy fats. So...again, trade offs and look at the total picture.

[canpakes]

I’ve never done ‘avocado toast’, mostly because I don’t eat much bread, and if I’m inclined to eat toast, I’d sooner just put a nice over-easy egg on top of it.

We’ll do avocados bare as a side, or almost always in salads, on homemade fish tacos (soft corn tortilla style, with cabbage, salsa and light spicy dressing), on rice dishes with chicken … things like that. Most of the time we’re just slicing, lightly salting and eating them as a side. The kids like them, too.

Their ability to satisfy while providing ‘healthy’ fats along with some vitamins/minerals makes the caloric trade-off work. And they help keep you full longer after the meal, which might help someone cut down on other snacking.

[Jersey Girl]

I’ve never done ‘avocado toast’, mostly because I don’t eat much bread, and if I’m inclined to eat toast, I’d sooner just put a nice over-easy egg on top of it.

We’ll do avocados bare as a side, or almost always in salads, on homemade fish tacos (soft corn tortilla style, with cabbage, salsa and light spicy dressing), on rice dishes with chicken … things like that. Most of the time we’re just slicing, lightly salting and eating them as a side. The kids like them, too.

Their ability to satisfy while providing ‘healthy’ fats along with some vitamins/minerals makes the caloric trade-off work. And they help keep you full longer after the meal, which might help someone cut down on other snacking.

Thanks! I keep thinking that I need to incorporate avocados but just haven't acted on that yet. I want to try the avocado toast with the poached egg on top. No one knows why... I've just seen it over and over again on a couple of youtube channels I follow and it's starting to grow on me. Looks like you could eat that for any meal of the day. We do have bread, I just don't eat it. In fact the only time I do eat bread is a slice of the raisin cinnamon bread I get sometimes--toasted with a bit of butter. That's an example of a treat I'd save for cold weather. It's just cozy and smells great.

[canpakes]

… a slice of the raisin cinnamon bread I get sometimes--toasted with a bit of butter. That's an example of a treat I'd save for cold weather. It's just cozy and smells great.

This.

Bread has moved from an every-meal staple to ‘tasty treat’ status, for us. We enjoy toasted buttered cinnamon bread as such.

And we’ll never give up our occasional French toast weekends, made with fat slices of soft brioche. Or blueberry pancake weekends.