Get Smart Get Strong

Menu Plans

So you have your Food List. Now let’s move from that to a Menu Plan.

We start by picking the protein basis for our meal, then adding in vegetables and a starch, then look for new recipes to add to our collection of weekly favorites.

Lean Proteins:

Chicken, fish, turkey, beans, low fat cottage cheese, fat free plain greek yogurt, eggs – all great choices. Really lean cuts of beef and pork occasionally – but make them count by using small amounts in soups, stews and stir fry.

Vegetables:

This category should be your go to food. When you want a snack, grab some carrots or red pepper strips. Want french fries or a baked potato? Eat a sweet potato version instead. Much healthier and tastes great! Pile on the veggies when you are hungry and eat your lean proteins – then move on to other categories.

Fruit:

The new Weight Watcher’s PointsPlus program considers all fruit zero points. I find that if I eat more than 1-2 servings of fruit a day, I don’t really lose weight. I can eat apples or blueberries (1/4 cup serving) or other high fiber, low glycemic fruit every day, but when I start to add in bananas and cantaloupe and mango  then I need to crank up my exercise to cancel out the extra carbs. Bottom line is you need the fiber, but not the sugar. Experiment to see what works for you. Especially if you have diabetes or other hormonal issues, you may need to keep the fruit to a bare minimum.

Starchy Carbs:

White bread and crackers. White potatoes. White rice.  White pasta. First  – switch to whole grain, whole wheat versions of the bread, crackers and pasta. Also to brown rice or even quinoa ,which I love. Substitute sweet potatoes for white potatoes. Even though they are abit sweeter when cooked, they can be used in a lot of recipes to replace white potatoes. Mix the two if you really want that white potato taste so you are getting half roasted white potatoes and half roasted sweet potatoes, for example.

This is the category that most morbidly obese people blame for their weight. There’s a saying on the WLS boards: no one got here because we ate too much fruit, vegetables or lean proteins. And no one makes it out and stays out by continuing to eat that way.

Make changes. Make them slowly and this time next year, you won’t have felt any pain,  but you can look back and see amazing progress. Try a batch of quinoa cooked in stock – either chicken, beef or vegetable. Amazing! You can then use that in recipes that call for rice and the protein value is so much higher.

Other Foods:

If you are making changes, you may be tempted to say something like “I’m never eating french fries again. I’m never having a cheeseburger again. I’m never drinking another chocolate shake.”

And what happens? If you have my brain, then the first thing that happens is that you suddenly want french fries like you have never wanted french fries before. You can’t think of anything except that crispy, salty, greasy taste of french fries.

So what do you do? You plan for splurges. Every single week for the rest of your life, have a meal that is ANYTHING you want. That’s right. Want a cheeseburger, french fries and chocolate shake? Have it once a week.

But here’s the catch: you need to eat it slowly, sitting down and chewing every bite. You need to savor every morsel. You need to see it, smell it and taste every ounce. And you need to stop when you are satisfied. Before you get full.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Be prepared! You may find yourself looking at an empty plate and have no idea where the food went. This is something you will need to practice and perfect. If having a whole “cheat meal” sounds too scary for you, try practicing the “three bite rule” where you allow yourself three bites of anything, then stop and throw it away. One or both of these are tricks I’ve used to lose over 148 pounds.