Since I love eating and I love cooking and creating bariatric friendly dishes it is no surprise that my business discussion with the other half of WLS SUCCESS MATTERS centered on food, hunger, satiety, understanding that food equals fuel, and that even the “worst” of cooks can create a delicious meal in minutes.

Food, Glorious Food When I began my journey I ate the same thing every day for breakfast and lunch - an egg frittata for breakfast and tuna for lunch.  Pretty boring, right?  Yes it was, but as I started on my journey from 424 lbs to 154 lbs I needed to take the emphasis off of food.  This worked.  I knew the calories and protein content of what I was eating.  It kept me satisfied (not full, just not physically hungry) for 3- 4 hours and the weight was falling off.  Dinners varied.  There were about 10 go tos that I used for the first year and then I added many more and keep adding as my creative mood strikes.

What’s my point here?  Is it eat boring food?  No, it’s eat real food and it’s fine to repeat it so that you don’t have to think about it.  I didn’t eat breakfast at home.  I ate it at work between 9 and 10am, when I was hungry. Food, Glorious Food  It’s okay to have a schedule of meals that work for you, especially with our busy lives and families.  Who remembers Meat Loaf Mondays or Taco Tuesdays or Pasta Sundays growing up?  What’s wrong with doing that again, right now, to feed yourself delicious food and keep your family happy as well?  On Sunday, make one or two (or 5) meat loaves and freeze the extras for future weeks, serve on Monday with the veggie of your choice, and your family’s…. your main course can be the same - The sides will change.  Take those Taco innards and put them over some salad greens for you, and have tortillas for the rest of the bunch.  Pasta?  Take that sauce, or those meatballs, and eat them in a bowl, or how about over some cauliflower rice, or spaghetti squash, or Zoodles while the rest of the crew has pasta - if they must.  All it takes is stopping a moment, changing those I cant’s into well maybe’s, and trying it.  You may find that you can make a huge batch of pasta sauce, or taco meat and freeze it right alongside your meat loaves. 

Food, Glorious Food Wow, cook once for many many meals.  Sounds like a plan to me.  I have been doing it for a long time now - 12 years to be exact.  I feed my family, I feed myself, I fuel my body with healthy real food, and I have achieved and maintained a 270 pound weight loss.

It works.  You may want to try it.  The other alternative is the one pan, throw together meal - there are so many of them that can be on the table in 20 minutes from start to finish and still hit all of your needs and all of your tastes and please your family at the same time.

Food, Glorious Food Just be sure you put the right size portion on your plate - the right size plate as well.  Using a small plate allows you visually to see lots of food.  If you put a bariatric portion on a big plate you might feel deprived, or want to go back for seconds.

As you develop your new eating and cooking skills, share with others.  Are you having trouble getting in the groove of making healthy food?  The solution is to give one month of WLS SUCCESS MATTERS MEAL PLANNING a try. 

You’ll find breakfasts, lunches and suppers for the month that are bariatric and family friendly with easy to follow directions, pictures, recipes, a shopping list and your nutrition statistics all worked out for you.

Whatever you choose to do, plan to be a success.