Eating Healthy Does Not Mean Boring or Nasty Foods
Let's talk good, healthy food!!
A lot of the problems with diets are that it comes with the mindset that they are going to be restrictions and we have to deprive ourselves of good food. That is such a mindf*** and it puts me straight on the path to failing down the line. One of my issues is that I just want to enjoy life which means that I want to do what everyone else is doing. That struggled kept me failing for years. What I needed to so was to shift my viewpoint a little. I had to first learn how to eat healthy before I could even begin to figure out how to accomplish that. I've talked about portion sizes and that helped but I also needed to figure out how to construct my meals out of what I liked to eat. I am a creature of habit and what I like is usually what I wanted to keep eating. My faves were tacos (duh), chili, pizza, bacon cheeseburgers, Chinese food, ice cream and chips and smoked oyster dip. Look at my faves....not a serious vegetable serving in sight. I could not imagine how I was supposed to cut all of that out. I remember one of my first interactions with a trainer and he gave me a meal plan...there was barely any meat and it was full of beans and legumes. What the hell are legumes?!! That plan lasted a week before I quit and went on a food binge. Looking back now, I realized that A) I did not know enough about nutrition to make that plan work, B) it was completely UNREALISTIC for the trainer and I to expect that I could adhere to that since most of the items on the plan were unknown to me and C) using a blanket food plan for everyone is bound to fail because everyone is unique. A food plan needs to be tailored to each individual. Use the foods use love, toss out the ones you don't like. Now this does not mean eat burgers and leave out the vegetables. Be realistic in your plan. I will not succeed if the food I am eating tastes nasty. Whatever plan I utilized the food has to be tasty enough for me to add it to my faves and I can cycle through them repeatedly without getting bored. I realized I can still have my faves, I just needed to modify them to make them healthy.
I've already shared how I make tacos healthy so let's look at the others
Pizza- I use ground turkey and saute that with onions, bell pepper, garlic and zucchini. I throw in some tomato paste, water, rosemary, thyme salt and pepper. Bam! Meat sauce. I stuffed that in large portabello mushroom caps and top with mozzarella cheese and mini turkey pepperoni and roast in he oven. Voila...Keto pizza and it's really good.
Chili - For chili, I omit the beans and add in a boat load of veggies. So in addition to the bell peppers and onions, I add a lot of mushrooms and zucchini for chunkiness. I topped with my favorite cheese and instead of sour cream I add plain Greek yogurt for an extra shot of protein.
Bacon Cheeseburger - I use a leaner grade of ground beef, toss the bun, stick to the serving size for bacon and wrap in lettuce. This is not something I'll have very often because: 1)the fat content is a little elevated, 2) I cannot eat a whole burger and 3) I don't want leftovers to deal with. You can also use ground turkey. ( I do not like turkey burgers so I won't try it).
Chinese Food - I love fried rice and stir fry! But you can never remotely know the nutritional facts of take out. So I make my own. For fried rice, I use cauliflower rice. I always have a Smithfield pork tenderloin or roast in the freezer and that is my meat. I will roast the pork in the oven and then separate it for different meals. I will saute onions, lots of garlic, mushrooms and ginger. Add the riced cauliflower and veggies and then add the meat and a little bit of sesame oil. I finish it wit low sodium soy sauce. For stir fry, I may use the same pork or use chicken thighs or shrimp. I LOVE egg rolls but, let's face it, they are not healthy. I make egg roll-in-a-bowl. I saute some ground turkey or chicken with onions, garlic, ginger in a pan. One browned, I take spoon out the meat into a container. In the left over oil, I'll drop in a bag of Tri-Color Slaw and add green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes and splenda and toss the meat back in. If I am craving the crunch, I will bake off some won ton wrapper in a muffin tin so they crisp up in a cup shape. Once they are done, I'll spoon my meat mixture into the cups. YUM
Ice Cream - HALOTOP or YASSO Ice Cream Bars. Halo Top pints are a anywhere from 260-350 calories a pint. That's right if you eat the whole pint (which I do not suggest but understand we are all human) at the most you have consumed less than 400 calories.The ice cream bars are 80-140 calories per bar.
Potato Chips - My crack. This one is still a challenge for me and I have not found a substitute that completely measures up BUT I have found a definite close second. Replace the regular chips with vegetable chips or veggie straws, whichever you prefer. Now for the dip. I can make a meal on Lipton's Onion Dip and some chips. Then last year a friend of mine added smoked oysters to her dip...AMAZEBALLS! So when I had a craving for it, I tossed out the sour cream and replaced it with Greek yogurt and used veggie chips and straws. OMG...totally took care of my craving for chips and dip and no guilt afterward
See..told you there are healthy alternatives to all your favorite food, you just have to be creative. Do they healthy alternatives taste the same. No but they are very tasty AND once you start eating healthy, your taste buds change. After a while if you try something off plan it is a little disappointing because it does not taste as good. I think it's because once you stop eating copious amounts of processed foods and eating fresh, your taste buds adjust. When you go back and get a fast food meal, you can now taste all the chemicals and grease. YUCK. At least that is how it is for me. Every recipe I listed above I found on Pinterest. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Keto Friendly recipes there. My suggestion, go on a Google fest and create a recipe vault for yourself. Preparation is the key to staying on plan.
A lot of the problems with diets are that it comes with the mindset that they are going to be restrictions and we have to deprive ourselves of good food. That is such a mindf*** and it puts me straight on the path to failing down the line. One of my issues is that I just want to enjoy life which means that I want to do what everyone else is doing. That struggled kept me failing for years. What I needed to so was to shift my viewpoint a little. I had to first learn how to eat healthy before I could even begin to figure out how to accomplish that. I've talked about portion sizes and that helped but I also needed to figure out how to construct my meals out of what I liked to eat. I am a creature of habit and what I like is usually what I wanted to keep eating. My faves were tacos (duh), chili, pizza, bacon cheeseburgers, Chinese food, ice cream and chips and smoked oyster dip. Look at my faves....not a serious vegetable serving in sight. I could not imagine how I was supposed to cut all of that out. I remember one of my first interactions with a trainer and he gave me a meal plan...there was barely any meat and it was full of beans and legumes. What the hell are legumes?!! That plan lasted a week before I quit and went on a food binge. Looking back now, I realized that A) I did not know enough about nutrition to make that plan work, B) it was completely UNREALISTIC for the trainer and I to expect that I could adhere to that since most of the items on the plan were unknown to me and C) using a blanket food plan for everyone is bound to fail because everyone is unique. A food plan needs to be tailored to each individual. Use the foods use love, toss out the ones you don't like. Now this does not mean eat burgers and leave out the vegetables. Be realistic in your plan. I will not succeed if the food I am eating tastes nasty. Whatever plan I utilized the food has to be tasty enough for me to add it to my faves and I can cycle through them repeatedly without getting bored. I realized I can still have my faves, I just needed to modify them to make them healthy.
I've already shared how I make tacos healthy so let's look at the others
Pizza- I use ground turkey and saute that with onions, bell pepper, garlic and zucchini. I throw in some tomato paste, water, rosemary, thyme salt and pepper. Bam! Meat sauce. I stuffed that in large portabello mushroom caps and top with mozzarella cheese and mini turkey pepperoni and roast in he oven. Voila...Keto pizza and it's really good.
Chili - For chili, I omit the beans and add in a boat load of veggies. So in addition to the bell peppers and onions, I add a lot of mushrooms and zucchini for chunkiness. I topped with my favorite cheese and instead of sour cream I add plain Greek yogurt for an extra shot of protein.
Bacon Cheeseburger - I use a leaner grade of ground beef, toss the bun, stick to the serving size for bacon and wrap in lettuce. This is not something I'll have very often because: 1)the fat content is a little elevated, 2) I cannot eat a whole burger and 3) I don't want leftovers to deal with. You can also use ground turkey. ( I do not like turkey burgers so I won't try it).
Chinese Food - I love fried rice and stir fry! But you can never remotely know the nutritional facts of take out. So I make my own. For fried rice, I use cauliflower rice. I always have a Smithfield pork tenderloin or roast in the freezer and that is my meat. I will roast the pork in the oven and then separate it for different meals. I will saute onions, lots of garlic, mushrooms and ginger. Add the riced cauliflower and veggies and then add the meat and a little bit of sesame oil. I finish it wit low sodium soy sauce. For stir fry, I may use the same pork or use chicken thighs or shrimp. I LOVE egg rolls but, let's face it, they are not healthy. I make egg roll-in-a-bowl. I saute some ground turkey or chicken with onions, garlic, ginger in a pan. One browned, I take spoon out the meat into a container. In the left over oil, I'll drop in a bag of Tri-Color Slaw and add green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes and splenda and toss the meat back in. If I am craving the crunch, I will bake off some won ton wrapper in a muffin tin so they crisp up in a cup shape. Once they are done, I'll spoon my meat mixture into the cups. YUM
Ice Cream - HALOTOP or YASSO Ice Cream Bars. Halo Top pints are a anywhere from 260-350 calories a pint. That's right if you eat the whole pint (which I do not suggest but understand we are all human) at the most you have consumed less than 400 calories.The ice cream bars are 80-140 calories per bar.
Potato Chips - My crack. This one is still a challenge for me and I have not found a substitute that completely measures up BUT I have found a definite close second. Replace the regular chips with vegetable chips or veggie straws, whichever you prefer. Now for the dip. I can make a meal on Lipton's Onion Dip and some chips. Then last year a friend of mine added smoked oysters to her dip...AMAZEBALLS! So when I had a craving for it, I tossed out the sour cream and replaced it with Greek yogurt and used veggie chips and straws. OMG...totally took care of my craving for chips and dip and no guilt afterward
See..told you there are healthy alternatives to all your favorite food, you just have to be creative. Do they healthy alternatives taste the same. No but they are very tasty AND once you start eating healthy, your taste buds change. After a while if you try something off plan it is a little disappointing because it does not taste as good. I think it's because once you stop eating copious amounts of processed foods and eating fresh, your taste buds adjust. When you go back and get a fast food meal, you can now taste all the chemicals and grease. YUCK. At least that is how it is for me. Every recipe I listed above I found on Pinterest. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Keto Friendly recipes there. My suggestion, go on a Google fest and create a recipe vault for yourself. Preparation is the key to staying on plan.
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