Here I am, a 13+ year Lap Band patient and yes, food is still important to me. There are many reasons that it’s important, so I’ll cover a few for you. Feel free to let me know if you have others:Here I am, a 13+ year Lap Band patient and yes, food is still important to me. There are many reasons that it’s important, so I’ll cover a few for you. Feel free to let me know if you have others:
We have to eat to stay alive, we have to eat to be healthy. I add to the “have to’s” we have to eat delicious food. If I don’t pay attention to assuring that I have food that makes my eyes, tongue and tummy happy I find myself craving unhealthy foods. This need for always something delicious didn’t happen all at once. As a matter of fact, for about the first year or so after I had Lap Band surgery I was a pretty boring eater. I ate the same thing over and over again. I did this because it was easy, I didn’t have to think about it or do much planning and I was a little fearful of experimenting too much and negatively effecting my weight loss.
Since that time I have learned that I am a foodie. I LOVE good food, and I love the challenge of making it healthy and weight loss surgery friendly. For several years if I missed Chinese food too much I would send hubby to get it and bring home from a small, locally owned restaurant. I could have gone in BUT every time I ate their food I got sick, so I needed to be at home. I either got stuck because the bite of ribs didn’t want to go down or got physically ill because there was so much oil in their stir fry, no matter how much I begged them. Then I found the answer to the problem - the problem was me wanting Oriental food - the answer was find a recipe and alter it to meet my personal needs for calories/protein and taste profile. I now have my own versions of some of my all time favorites - Szechuan green beans, orange chicken, shrimp fried “rice”, Beef and broccoli, egg foo young and a few others. I control the amount of oil (which is minimal - it’s amazing how far 1 teaspoon of sesame oil can go when you finish a recipe for 4 with it, instead of saturating the recipe with tablespoons of oil). I also don’t use rice. I use riced cauliflower. There are many other substitutions that are recipe specific that all give me the satisfaction of a delicious Oriental meal for less than 300 calories and loaded with protein instead of fat and carbs.
I love pizza - who doesn’t? I make mine with either a cauliflower crust (which I buy pre-made on line) or with a meat or chicken crust… I load it with cheeses and pizza sauce and whatever else strikes my fancy and I am a happy camper.
Pasta? Who needs pasta with all of it’s calories when zoodles or spaghetti squash work just as well? This year I even bought overripe heirloom tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market and made up a huge batch of marinara sauce which I froze in portion size containers… That may be too much for some of you, but I had a fun day roasting tomatoes and onion and garlic and can reap the rewards of my fun for several months. I can add ground beef, ground turkey or ground chicken to it, make or buy meatballs, or buy pre-made chicken sausages of all different flavor profiles to use with the sauce and my “pasta” of choice. A little fresh grated Parmigiana and I am a happy camper. By the way, so is anyone else having dinner at my house.
These are just a few of my favorites that are as easy to explain as they are to cook. Fall and winter are upon us so now come the soups and stews and chile and keeping the crock pot going and the house smelling wonderful. This also fills my freezer with quick, on the run dinners with all of the leftovers. I mark the date, the portion size, the calories and the protein on the label of the container or zip lock bag that I use to freeze the leftovers.
My approach to breakfast and lunch is similar to dinner, with a little bit less variety. My husband likes eggs any style for breakfast so I have taken to creating either egg “muffins” or an egg frittata (think crustless quiche) once a week and wrapping and refrigerating the results for quick, microwaved breakfasts. Before you say leftovers gag you, try reheating covered loosely on 50 percent power for 1-2 minutes in your microwave and see if this helps. It also helps if you don’t overcook the eggs to begin with. My creations vary from chile relleno casserole through a Mediterranean frittata this morning - some eggs or egg substitute, a cheese, a meat, sometimes some veggies, some seasoning and voila - breakfast goodness.
I do the same thing for lunches. I will vary what goes into my chicken or tuna, or turkey or salmon salad. Those are the standards. This week I am making ground turkey burgers (with spinach, feta cheese and olives) for dinner tonight and will have several left over that will act as lunches for a few days. Then there is always turkey lunch meat and cheese for roll ups, and I have a great new find of sliced pastrami for something different for the roll ups.
I always have a few hard boiled eggs, some cheese sticks and some yogurt or cottage cheese in the refrigerator.
Just to give you an idea of how quick and easy this preparing stuff can be I woke up this morning, had my tea and coffee and decided it was a Mediterranean frittata and some turkey burgers for today’s prep work. From the moment I put my empty coffee cup into the sink, until I was washing the last utensil from prepping the egg dish, cooking it and putting the 6 turkey burgers ready to hit the grill later into the refrigerator 45 minutes had gone by. I can find that time once, or maybe twice a week to make sure that I have healthy weight loss surgery and family friendly meals on hand.
I’m certainly worth it, and so are YOU. If you need some ideas, would like some quick, easy recipes with your portions, calories and protein already worked out for you I recommend a copy of the cookbook I co-authored: EAT YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS AND LEARN HOW TO CONTROL HUNGER. You can get your copy at Amazon.com - click here for more info http://www.wlssuccessmatters.com/pages/Eat-Your-Way-To-Success.htm