The word frenemy pretty much sums up my relationship with food. I like it, but the really good stuff isn;t good for you. It's fun to eat, but tryng to get a meal on the table during the week is hard. For most of my childhood, food was an object of contention. My mother suffered from an eating disorder and went into treatment when I was 11 or so. Even when she returned, her need to control all of the food in the house was strong. We were never allowed to eat anything without asking first. We could not have friends over and eat a bag of chips in the cupboard without making sure it was ok. So, food and meals were a source of stress.
When I met M, I was introduced to a group of people that loved to cook. I am so grateful to to them because they helped give the confidence to try to cook and they gave me lessons in the positive side of meals. Cooking and eating were reasons to experiment with different dishes, drink wine and have fun with friends. I view food and eating much differently now, and you can tell by my waistline!
After L was born I went on Weight Watchers with great success. I am now on the same plan and am about 10 to 15 pounds away from my goal weight. The challenge I face is how to cook for my self and my family while staying healthy and without sucking the fun out of the whole experience. In order to save money and time we plan our meals on a weekly basis. Like Gina, we have a set number of meals that I have found to be easy and good to eat. One easy way I have found to make everything a little healthier is cutting out the white flour carbs. Rice is always brown, pasta is always whole wheat and rolls are always wheat, as well. I also have a vegetable (non-corn) side dish with every meal. As an example, here is what we've had the past few weeks:
Shrimp/veggies/brown rice
Veggie burgers/baked fries/salad
baked talapia/brown rice/veggies
Pizza (store bought, thin crust) - Mondays are pizza nights
Soup (sometimes homemade, sometimes from a can)
Stir fry veggies with sausage
Meal-in-a-bag (not that great as a healthy dish)
Whole Wheat Pasta with sauce and salad
Pierogis and veggies
Turkey Burgers/baked fries/salad
I am looking for some new dishes to put in the rotation that are WW friendly and quick for weekday meals. I am also looking for healthy snacks to take to work and an eating schedule that will keep my blood sugar from doing crazy things and keep me away from the sweets & salties!
It's not too late to join The Plan 2010!! Even if you don't want to join, you can follow it on Twitter and you can check out the blog and the recipe blog!
Wow - can I come eat with you? I'm sure that would help me reach my weight goal this year! I want, mentally, to eat healthily, but am struggling to know what that looks like. Plus, it seems that eating truly healthy (lots of fresh foods) is so much more expensive that it's hard to stretch our tight budget that far right now. I have a good chicken chili recipe if you're interested that should be fairly healthy, and I bet if you did chicken fajitas with lots of veggies and wheat tortillas, that would be a good addition.
ReplyDeleteWe love turkey burgers, but I was sad to actually pay attention this week to how expensive the pre-made ones are per pound! I guess I might have to start making my own. :)
Do you do WW meetings or do you do it online? I have been debating doing it because when I went back to work after having M I gained A LOT of weight and would love to get it off. I'm just not sure what to do. I have had success doing a modified kind of South Beach, but I'm so not disciplined enough right now.
ReplyDeleteI kind of have a hobby of finding healthy fast meals. When I worked, cooking was incredibly difficult. Even now, being at home, I'm usually bounching a baby in my front pack while stemming kale and supervising my two year old as she washes carrots beside me. Dinner making is an all afternoon task! One of my favorite healthy snacks is hummus of various flavors for dipping carrots or whole grain pita bread. I also do boiled eggs or almond butter sandwiches for a filling snack on the go that I can make ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteLove the plan idea! Way to go with that!
I am so with you on this. You should read my most recent post on my Dirty Thirty Blog..it's all about my food demons!!
ReplyDeleteI'm on WW again, too!
I have this delicious Mac N Cheese WW recipe that I'll put on the Good Eats blog! You don't even realize that you're eating low fat it's that good!!!
Thanks for the food ideas, that's one thing I really suck at...food planning!
ReplyDeleteGood luck on WW, sounds like you are doing great!
I'm on WW too, and our menus for the week look remarkably similar! :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing we do a lot of: stirfry. WW has a fantastic thai chicken stir-fry that we LOVE. It's easy, and I can have three cups (2 servings) without rice and feel full but not too full.
Also, if you have a crockpot? I have three recipes for soups - one black bean, one 15 bean, one a WW cuban pork+sweet potato stew - that are FANTASTIC. They're filling enough to be a full meal, too, and the spices can be modified so it's kid-friendly.
Let me know if you want them - my email is serenitynowinfertile at gmail dot com.
xxx