From Guilty Pleasures to Healthy Ones – Part 2

My last post was all about understanding body weight, calories and finding peace with your body.  Today we are going to take some of those guilty pleasures and turn them into healthy pleasures.  Before we start – you did check to see where your healthy weight is and how many calories you should be consuming each day right?  If not… go do that and come back… you will need that info during this portion of our discussion.  Remember calories are NOT the focus but give you a jumping off point.  Here is the reasoning.  If you are consuming 3,000 calories each day and want to weigh 120 pounds, you will likely have to make some radical changes in SOMETHING.  This lets you understand where those calories come from and if they are good calories or bad ones.

Fast food – Have you ever looked at the calorie counters for fast food??  O…M…G!  Now, remember that the fat and salt percentages don’t tell you half the story.  These are all the BAD fats and BAD salts, remember that.  Here are a couple:

So, no fast food… well not necessarily.  There are options out there that are better for you than others.  Subway – better, grilled chicken – better, salads – better yet but some of those awesome things contain just as many or more bad calories than the obvious ones.  Seriously, I used to LOVE Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad… until I saw the counts:  1430 calories, 96g fat, 1510mg salt, and 47g sugar. HOLY COW!  Done.  No more.  We aren’t looking specifically to reduce your calorie count, but rather to ensure the calories you are consuming are good ones. 

Don’t nibble through the day.  As pointed out in one of my recent posts, your body needs time to rest and heal itself each day.  Not only that but those calories tend to add up VERY fast and before you know it you have blown all your calories in “snacks” that give you empty calories.  I tend to have one MEAL a day and two light meals.  Breakfast – light.  This gets the metabolism going for the day.  Mid-day meal I push back until about 2pm and this tends to be my largest meal of the day – giving my body time to burn those calories.  Evening tends to be fruit or a salad or maybe even some yogurt. 

So, let’s talk transformation… start your meals with a full glass of water or a cup of green / white tea.  Don’t drink anything during the meal.  Typically, we eat too fast and over stuff ourselves.  Drinking a full glass of water before will give you a partially full feeling, and you should eat closer to the proper amount during your meals – which is just less than “FULL.”  Ensure that you are chewing your food completely.  This is one of my downfalls and why the water at the beginning of the meal helps.  Rather than being starving and scarfing down my food, I can relax and enjoy the food that goes in my mouth.  Digestion begins in your mouth.  Chewing and infusing your food with saliva begins that breakdown that will continue in your stomach.  Don’t eat in front of the television – always sit at a table.  You are there to eat – don’t read, do crossword puzzles, work, etc…  Try to consciously eat slower – eating faster makes you eat more as it takes a bit of time for your stomach to transmit to your brain that you are actually full. So, slow down and enjoy the flavor of your meal.

Double Cheese Burger – If you MUST have twice the meat AND the cheese – make sure you are eating good quality beef, remove the bun, and get good quality cheese.  Stick with the vegetables lose the mayonnaise or any creamy sauces.

French Fries – empty calories.  If you are craving them, you need to figure out if it is the salt or the potatoes that you are craving – and fix that problem.  Instead of french fries try oven cooked fries – steak fries – sweet potato oven fries – baked potato (no sour cream / no bacon).  Get rid of the oil that they are cooked in and add some seasonings – Mrs. Dash is a good combination if you have a hard time mixing your own. 

Shake – more empty calories.  If you are craving something cold during the hot summer months – try making some smoothies at home with fresh and frozen fruit, almond milk, and ice.  With a smoothie you not only get the fruit, sweet, cold parts but also the fiber, and other beneficial nutrients.  Stay away from the ice cream.  Adding lemon or lime will help you speed up your metabolism.  There are also frozen fruit pops out there that are better for you than ice cream or sorbet – less sugar and real fruit.  If you MUST have ice cream – get the good stuff (real gelato) and only take a couple small spoonfuls each day.  See how long you can make a SMALL container last.  Sitting down and eating a whole container of Ben and Jerrys is equivalent to 27 teaspoons of sugar or more than ½ a cup! 

Chocolate – depending on what kind of chocolate you are eating, will depend on its benefits.  Stay away from the milk chocolate and try some dark chocolate.  If you want the sweetness – try the dark chocolate with mint or some fruit.  Dark chocolate (darker the better) actually helps you lose weight.  Just remember one or two squares a day is enough.

Coffee – limit your intake to 1 – 2 cups black coffee each day.  If you need the flavor and sweetness – start reducing them each day until you don’t need them any longer.  Seriously.  The stuff added to your coffee is likely not good for you unless you are using raw milk and honey.  Pay attention to it.  Create your own frozen drinks with almond milk (or other nut / oat milk) and ice… remember though, with the frozen drinks they really punch up the caffeine – one frozen drink is equal to 2 cups of regular coffee.  Try mixing 1/2 decaffeinated with 1/2 regular at home. 

Steak – I know I am going to hear lots of grumblings with this one – you REALLY only need a couple of servings of red meat a MONTH.  If you have conditioned your body to need it more often, you really should move towards more nuts and fish to compensate.  Good steak is better for you than ground beef (usually fresher – with less fat).  Try cutting it and using it mixed with other foods. Thai Beef Salad is a great example.  You get your grilled steak – mixed with fresh greens, herbs, etc… This way you are getting less STEAK and more of the greens you need.  Believe it or not, many heavy carnivores carry 25 pounds of undigested meat in their system.  OUCH!

Cakes / Cookies / Brownies / Cheesecake – no, no, no!!  Danger Will Robinson!  We have been conditioned to eat dessert with our meals – desserts should be for special occasions, not daily consumption.  Besides the amount of sugar, they usually are made with flour that has been stripped of its benefits and made with lots of butter (if you are lucky).  Start moving away from these unhealthy desserts to ones based on fruit – Strawberry Shortcake made with biscuits rather than poundcake or try making it with angelfood cake (not ideal but better than the poundcake).  Or how about some fresh fruit with a couple squares of dark chocolate.  Once you move further away from the sugar laden desserts, you will find that they are just too sweet for you. 

Eggrolls – if you are like my family and love Asian foods.  Eggrolls are usually one of the first favorites.  Lumpia, Gyoza, and Summer Rolls and the like… Summer Rolls or Fresh Rolls are a family favorite in my house and a wonderful healthy pleasure!!

Guilty pleasures that you should never worry about – strawberries dipped in dark chocolate.  Frozen grapes or blueberries.  Honey Sticks. 

My Non-Guilty Healthy Pleasures – these can all be found in my recipe file:
Thai Beef Salad – http://www.food.com/recipe/my-o-my-best-thai-beef-salad-ever-51081
Summer Rolls – http://whatscookingamerica.net/Appetizers/SpringRolls.htm
Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) – http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaisnacks/r/PapayaSalad.htm

Most all the things you make at home are 100 times better for you than the food you get at a restaurant.  Find ways to incorporate new healthy pleasures into your day!  If you need some good ideas, check out the recipe section of the website. 

Enjoy your Healthy Pleasures today… Blessings.  E