Skip the chips

I grew up a farm girl.  We had some form of potatoes with pretty much every meal.  The saying “meat and potatoes” family is not a myth, it’s reality here in Iowa.  Baked, fried, mashed, frenched, hashbrowns…you name it, I love it! The other thing we had with every meal?  Bread.  Meat, potatoes, bread and a veggie.  These were the staples of our plates.  I’ve never been shy about the fact that I’m a complete carb addict but I have found this does not bode well with trying to lose weight.  It’s heartbreaking really to say goodbye to some of my favorite comfort foods.  I mean, put a basket of bread in front of me at a restaurant and you better be prepared for refills.  Who needs the main meal when you have rolls?  Hence, the lovely muffin top I sport above my pants.  Sissy’s wedding is just under three weeks away and as I’ve shared, the dress zips but the breathing isn’t real comfortable.  My husband has always preached at me about my carbs and I always ignored him because I love them and they make me feel full and happy.  Also because I had no idea the amount of carbs I was consuming was atrocious because that was my normal.  He told me if I wanted to make sure the dress fits more comfortably and I wanted to do it healthy (which, of course, I do) that I needed to watch my carbs. Not watch them fill my plate and slide into my mouth but watch the amount.  He told me to cut them back to around 100 grams a day.  Say what?!?! Carbs are in nearly everything.  I played with a few sample menus and thought he had completely lost his marbles.  All I could basically eat was lean proteins and veggies.  Well, duh, that makes sense but I still hate it when he’s so very right. 

For the last week I worked very hard to keep my carbs around 100.  It was tough some days!  But I found ways around it and my body feels much “lighter”.  I’m not crashing from sugar highs and carb binges.  I feel much more level.  Saturday night I made chicken tacos.  I diced up chicken and simmered with lemon juice, salsa, hot sauce, cilantro, minced garlic and onions.  It was heavenly and is one of the boy’s favorite meals!  It was tough to find a low carb tortilla that tasted decent but I budgeted my day so that I could enjoy one.  Today I made a salad.  No tortilla and no baked Doritos or other chips like I would’ve normally done.  I used 2 cups of lettuce, the chicken, shredded 2% reduced fat cheese, cilantro, onion, salsa, and instead of sour cream, I used a dollop of plain greek yogurt.  It was awesome! I didn’t miss the carbs or crunch of the chips and I saved myself 140 calories and 8 grams of fat that way too.  There was enough flavor and crunch from the onions and lettuce to make my mouth very happy and my tummy full.  Breakfast was egg whites, spinach, turkey sausage and feta cheese.  My afternoon snack is yogurt so I have enough carb wiggle room to make my tuna tonight and eat it on a piece of flatout bread with fat free mayo, dill relish, a dash of hot sauce and one piece of fat free American cheese.  With only 68 carbs and 984 calories, I will definitely have enough leeway in my food budget to enjoy a bowl of Blue Bunny hi-lite vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries tonight.  Yeah, my mouth is watering a little bit just thinking about it too.  I heart dessert and it is national ice cream month so don’t judge me. 

Oh and speaking of mouthwatering, has anyone seen the commercials for Pizza Hut’s new garlic bread pizza?  Again, Lyndee loves any bread but throw garlic, cheese and toppings on and I’m putty in your hands.  This commercial was so real I could almost smell the pepperoni and bubbling cheese through my television.  My inner fat girl was drooling uncontrollably.  Consider a piece of pizza hut garlic bread with cheese is 240 calories and 15 grams of fat, adding any toppings whatsoever could only be catastrophic.  Sigh.  I guess I will just have to try to concoct this at home with light garlic bread, turkey pepperoni and reduced fat cheese and see how it turns out.  This is another great example of why we should look up stats before we eat something and why impulse buying is a terrible idea.  I’m glad I was already eating my fish and sweet potato fries before I saw the commercial because my will power may have been weak.  But I avoided a bad decision and my bridesmaids dress thanks me for it.