Recipe Saturday (you might not agree!)

A while back Dr. Deb did a meme and listed her favorite snack foods as chocolate, chocolate and chocolate.

That's one of my "demons"; potato chips (particularly Ruffles) are one of the other main ones. Over the course of the last year I've found a few ways to deal with them, even if I can't totally slay that 2nd one yet!

As I started weight training and reading about it, I discovered protein shakes. A Sport-Pharma Vanilla that they sell at Costco is my usual breakfast if Dottie's at work. I can add a banana, or blueberries or strawberries to it; I usually make it with water and ice cubes in a "smoothie" cup that is an accessory for my blender. If I'm really trying to lean down, sometimes one is lunch as well. Depending on how much time I have in the afternoon before work, some days I have a small salad and a 1/2 chicken breast (Sam's has some mesquite flavored ones I really like).

In slaying the "fast carb" monster, after having changed to a good whole wheat bread, wheat pastas, rice pastas, etc., I discovered wheat tortillas. In a fitness magazine I read about using them instead of bread to make chicken wraps etc, since they are actually a "slower" digesting carb than even most breads, also if you shop around, lower in calories. I've been buying 20 packs at Sam's Club.

My treat with them is to nuke one for 20 seconds, spread just enough margarine on it to moisten it and sprinkle it with cinammon and "spoonable" Equal. Two of them are pretty filling and make a nice low carb low cal dessert (for me anyway).

My chocolate fix I get most nights when I come home from work in the form of another protein shake, but instead of "whey" protein, it's a soy chocolate "meal replacement" that comes from Sam's Club (Nature Made brand). Water and ice cubes and the smoothie cup again, with two scoops of the mix is 110 calories, 3 is still less than 200 calories. It's not the greatest tasting thing (I'd love to go back to a 1/2 cup of Quik in a 20 oz. glass, or even a cup of it in a quart of milk), but it gets me by...

For a more decadent treat, evey now and then I let myself have a can of Instone's Chocolate Pudding. It's a high protein chocolate pudding made by a company that Sylvester Stallone started (also comes in vanilla and banana cream, but chocolate is the best!) and available at GNC among other places. Rich enough with really good flavor, though not cheap (catch it on sale the first week of each month with a GNC gold card for just over a buck a can).

I had been buying Haagen-Daaz Light "Cherry Fudge Truffle" and love it dearly, along with a Dutch chocolate; both really good ice cream, even if they're called "light". The cherry fudge truffle I love so much I had trouble rationing myself, so last week at Costco I bought some "Skinny Cow" ice cream sandwiches. 140 calories each, so far I've managed to stop at one, though tonight I thought about it a while after that first one...

Working second shift, my sandwich is my evening meal. I carry blueberries in my lunch now for my after sandwich snack, a banana for my last break, and an applesauce or some grapes or cherries for an extra snack. I eat a Dannon "Lite and Fit" yogurt at 1st break. I haven't been in a vending machine for almost a year (the last week of April will make a year since I went back to work after my back injury. I weighed 288 when I hurt myself, 258 when I went back, I'm down to 193 now).

That sandwich is whole wheat bread with lettuce and either some shaved ham or turkey, or sometimes turkey pastrami; about 300 to 340 calories. I bought a little digital scale at Bed Bath and Beyond to weigh things with in the beginning, 'til I got used to how much was how many calories. I used a web site called Calorie Lab to get the numbers. Now I judge pretty well without it, though I still check myself now and then.

In the beginning I was logging everything and trying to hold about 1300 calories a day. Once I hit 200, I've let that creep to 1600 to 1700 a day. The weight loss has slowed, but since I'm still working out the inch sizes are still going down. I went into winter at 36", I'm at 34" now and they are starting to loosen a bit.

Not meaning to bore anyone, or try to "ruin" the wonderful Recipe Saturday tradition that Blogzie started, but thought I'd throw the tortilla thing and some other ideas out there for anyone that was looking for a way to enjoy all these wonderful things we're finding and "make up for it" later in the week!

When I read Stallone's last book (one of my lifesavers when I began all of this) he said that no matter how you go about it, allow yourself one day a week to eat what you want and not feel guilty about it; otherwise you'll feel deprived, get angry, and stop trying (paraphrasing).

I love to eat, I love to cook, and thanks to all of you I'm starting to learn some new things again. Some of my "cheat days" are going to be spent with each of you, and I'll be very grateful to you for them!

alan