Recipe Recommendations and Food Swaps

The biggest thing I have to work on in my weight loss journey is nutrition. I suffer from boredom and emotional eating, and the biggest help with this right now is not keeping trigger foods in the house, such as cheeze-it's or string cheese. Keeping myself busy is also important and I'm working on the follow through of doing activities I enjoy besides snacking while watching TV.

The other side of nutrition is eating foods that fuel my body without compromising taste and fun. I don't want to deny myself anything, because then I'll binge eat it later, but I need to make more mindful choices. I wanted to compile a list of what has helped me so far!

Make wholesome meals: this can range from snacky/charcuterie lunches to chicken, rice, and broccoli, but make meals that you actually enjoy. Here are a few I incorporate:

• Chicken Tacos: I put chicken breast in a crockpot with salsa and set it to low for 6 hours or high for 4. With a half hour left, put in your taco seasoning. I recommend the low sodium brand, but you could make your own by using cumin, paprika, onion and garlic powders, and chili powder. Shred the chicken and let it sit, then you're ready to go! You can choose to do a taco salad, put on tortillas, or whatever you usually do on Taco Tuesdays.

• Zucchini lasagna: I saw a post one time on Pinterest about zucchini rollups, but I discovered it was way too messy and time consuming for my liking, so I switched to lasagna style instead. Here is a link for an example: Zucchini Lasagna Recipe (Not Watery) - Skinnytaste
  

• Protein, brown/wild rice, veggie: This is something many people do when losing weight. I cycle between pork chops, chicken (rotisserie, thighs, breast), or steak (on occasion). I use the minute rice cups brown/wild flavor, and usually use a microwavable bag of broccoli or brussel sprouts. Asparagus is a nice treat, too.

  • Roasting vegetables is also a quick way to cook vegetables. I'll usually roast broccoli and potatoes.

• Charcuterie style: sometimes we just don't have the energy to plan and cook! My "snacky lunch" usually includes Hannaford brand Greek yogurt (sometimes with berries), banana with PB2, crunchy veggies with Garlic hummus, and/or trail mix or something crunchy.
  

• Healthy Choice Steamables: as far as frozen meals go, this brand tends to be the best with lower sodium choices. I try to look for frozen meals that are under 500mg.
  

• Fish with veggie: I like to get my fish from Hannaford as they have the most variety that I like. I tend to get cod or tilapia or haddock, salmon (either bourbon marinated or as a pinwheel with spinach stuffing), or stuffed haddock. I will sometimes get crab cakes to go with the white fish since they don't have the stuffing, and I'll pair with a veggie as mentioned in bullet point #2.

• Breakfast for dinner: I love an egg white scramble with mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I tend to overdo it with shredded cheese and need to switch to low fat, but I rarely buy bread to go with this. I experiment with condiments because I don't think we have to stick to the norm! I actually like sugar free honey bbq sauce better than ketchup in this.

Food Swaps: sometimes making better choices means swapping out something. Here are a few that I've implemented over the last few months:

• Tumaros low carb tortillas (don't taste as good as flour tortillas but only 60 calories each)

• PB2 for peanut butter

• Plain Greek yogurt for sour cream (honest, you can't tell!)

• Yasso bars for ice cream (I got my dad hooked on them, and he can be picky!)

• Skim milk instead of cream in coffee (I started doing this years ago)

• I rarely order soda out, but I like seltzer water for a bubbly treat!

• I also rarely drink juice, but I like Crystal Light type drinks, whether it's by the pitcher or the single flavor packets. There are more and more store brands developing fun flavors!

• Buying egg white cartons instead of eggs some weeks.

• Other recommendations:

  • Lettuce to bulk salad even though it's not nutritionally dense: I think lettuce is a stupid and useless vegetable, but it sure does help to fill me up, and has that crunch factor.

  • Don't be afraid to shop at multiple places to find the best deals. I have the Hannaford app and I love cashing in my quarterly rewards, and sometimes have coupons in the app that work in my favor!

  • Making your own meal or prepping your own vegetables is healthier and cheaper than buying premade, but premade can help cut time. Example: fajita vegetable blend from Hannaford

  • Avoid calories from liquids if possible. Herbal tea, seltzer water, and plain water are obvious choices, but can add diet soda or Crystal Light as mentioned above. Alcohol has a ton of useless calories and I've cut down on my overall consumption because I'd rather save my calories for my meals.
    

  • Keep it simple: I complain about eating the same thing all the time, but it makes planning easier, especially as someone who works full time and is trying to walk 30 minutes a day (I'm at 20-60 minutes about 4-5 days a week, getting there!)

  • Try choosing better options when eating out. Eating out with friends or family is part of life. One example I have is the shrimp lettuce taco meal at Margarita's.
    

At the end of the day: Don't beat yourself up for "slipping" AKA being human! You can always get back on track the next meal.