I'm selling Pampered Chef to help raise money for my mission trip to South Africa this summer. You can go here if you'd like to order some. My show closes tomorrow at 11:59EST, and make sure to list Erica Byrd as your host. (Awesome gadgets if you're looking to eat a little healthier!)
Anyway, this installment isn't about buying Pampered Chef. It just lends itself nicely to what I wanted to write about, which is food.
I've never been much of a cook because that's my dad's job. He cooks the meals, and he's good at it. Why fix what's not broken, right? Until I realized everything he cooks is less than stellar for me. So my parents decided that we would start eating by my standards (yes, I still live with my parents). Where I am so excited my mom and dad have decided they want to start eating healthier, this is a bit of a catch-22. Because now I'm in charge of not only the grocery shopping, but also the cooking.
Yikes.
So here is the plan I try to follow:
Breakfast: 300-500 calories
Snack: 200-300 calories
Lunch: 500-700 calories
Snack: 200-300 calories
Dinner: 400-500 calories
I try to make my biggest meals breakfast and lunch, that way my body has time to process what I'm eating and break it down before I go to bed. I normally don't do many carbs for dinner since I normally don't eat until 7pm. The carbs I do eat that time of day are usually vegetables because they break down easier than, say, pasta or bread.
Usually my days go something like this:
Breakfast (8:30am)
Kroger Carbmaster yogurt- around 60 calories (any flavor... my favorite is the Strawberry Pomegranite)
Luna Bar - around 190 calories (my favorites are Lemon Zest and Vanilla Almond)
Some sort of coffee drink, like a Skinny Vanilla Latte from Starbucks - 160 calories
BREAKFAST TOTAL: 410
Lunch (noon)
Wrap with Ham, Cheese, and Mayo
(Tumaro's Gourmet Tortillas, 96% fat free jalapeno & cilantro - 120 calories, 1 tbsp. reduced fat mayo with olive oil - 45, 3 oz. reduced sodium ham - around 70 calories, and 1 slice Sargento's swiss or mozzerella cheese - around 70 calories)
10 Stacey's Simply Naked Pita Chips - 130 calories
Then I usually either do an medium apple (72 calories) or a Mott's Natural No Sugar Added applesauce (50 calories)
Sometimes there is 2 tbsp Kroger Reduced Fat Peanut Butter (170 calories) if I know I'll be training with Melissa for an extra bit of protein.
LUNCH TOTAL: approx. 600
Afternoon snack (3:30ish)
This just depends... sometimes I'll do a banana (105 calories), or I'll eat the apple if I didn't earlier.
Dinner (7:00ish)
This just depends, too. I don't eat red meat, but I do a lean meat like chicken, turkey, or pork. I pair it with a vegetable (usually green) like green beans, broccoli, or asparagus, and sometimes a carb (pasta or potatoes). It usually never exceeds 600 calories, and it highly depends on what kind of workout I've done that day or how late I'm eating.
So the adventure in all this is that I'm having to learn how to cook, making me scour the internet and friends' cookbooks for healthy options. If you've ever been on Pinterest (you should be), it's a great place to find some good recipes, like this one:
(Sorry that my phone camera makes everything look orange or yellow.) This is a Skinny Bacon Ranch Chicken Crockpot recipe I found that is so delicious, and only 453 calories! (I added a cup of green beans, which is additional calorie intake.)
Skinny Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta
Ingredients:
1- 10.5 oz 98% fat free Cream of Chicken Soup (I've only found this in Kroger brand)
1- packet of Hidden Valley ranch seasoning
2- turkey bacon slices, chopped, cooked in naked pan
1- 8oz. fat free sour cream (again, I've only found it in Kroger Brand
1 tbsp minced garlic (I used garlic salt)
1 tbsp onion powder
8 oz. frozen chicken tenders
8 oz. pasta of your choice (I used whole wheat rotini)
Directions:
Put frozen chicken in crockpot. Mix soup, ranch packet, cooked bacon, sour cream, minced garlic, and onion powder together to form sauce. Pour over frozen chicken. Cook on HIGH for 3-3.5 hours in crockpot, stirring occasionally. Boil pasta according to box, drain, and serve chicken mixture over 2 oz. pasta. Enjoy!
Yields: 4 servings
It's really easy, and if you're eating at a relatively normal dinner time (not 7pm), it's a great option. It would probably also taste good with steamed broccoli! Heck, you could even mix the cooked broccoli into the pasta! Yum! (I realize this doesn't follow my "No Pasta at Dinner" rule, but like I said, if you're eating at a NORMAL time...)
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I've been really researching "trick" foods lately, especially on Eat This, Not That, and it's really helping. For example, caffeine is OKAY to have, as long as it's in its natural form, like black coffee. Coffee actually helps to speed up your metabolism! Caffeine is NOT okay in things like carbonated sodas (even diet ones), which that's okay with me because I don't drink soda anyway (I will rarely crave a Sierra Mist, and I'll get the Natural kind when I do). It's not that the caffeine in soda is different than in that of black coffee-- the sugars in the soda will kill your diet (even diet soda). Even if you're just counting calories, the hidden dangers in soda (especially diet soda) are what you have to look out for. They slow down the process of your body.
One thing I don't do is have a "cheat meal" a week. It's not because I'm trying to limit myself... it's more my weird brain that says, "If you have a CHEAT meal, that means you are on a diet and not making a lifestyle change." Again, that's me, and it's different for everyone. If a cheat meal works for you, that is absolutely fine.
The one thing to remember is if you have something that's less than healthy for you, it's okay. Don't beat yourself up. Just move on.
Again, I'm not a health expert or fitness guru. I'm just thinking out loud, and maybe my thought process will work for you, too.
P.S. I started my day off with 30 leg lifts. They were definitely easier in the morning, and I found myself energized (oddly enough) after. I opted not to run tonight because 1) I worked late, 2) my legs are sore, and 3) I'm apparently doing some 1,000 rep Melissa workout tomorrow. I thought I'd need to be at full capacity for that. It just means that I'll be hitting it hard Tuesday-Sunday (to stick to my resolutions).
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