At school my students and I have one of the last lunch times of the day, 12:45. For many people that is a normal lunch time, but for someone that has been up since 4 a.m. and hasn’t eaten food in over 5 hours, it seems like an eternity and my stomach is eating itself at that point.
Luckily we squeeze some room in, to pass out snacks while I am teaching and I eat my snack as well, if I haven’t forgotten it. If I forget my snack I always find myself going through the extras we have and reading nutritional labels, which always leaves me empty handed.
When I look at the label and it has more than 20 grams of carbohydrates for something that I know is not going to fill me up, I don’t even bother, especially if it is processed. I would rather eat a cup of honey dew, than a 10 pieces of tiny chewy candy. Lately, my snack has been a cup of low carb fruit and 2 ounces of low fat deli meat.
Cue, me forgetting my snack this past Wednesday. I did my usual look through the cabinets and leave empty handed. Then in walks a kid from another class with a chocolate chip cookie. This cookie would have rivaled a Chick-fil-a chocolate chip cookie. Why, kid? Why? If you have ever been starving and a cookie placed in front of you, a Chick-fil-a type cookie none the less, it really is so hard to pass it up. I cannot lie, I took a bite or two. I sat it on my desk and pulled off a piece. Kept teaching. Came back to my desk and pulled off another bite. 3/4ths of the thing is gone now…good job. So I put it in one of my Tupperware containers that was on my desk. Why, I don’t know. Saving it for Anderson or myself to eat later perhaps. I still wanted to eat the whole thing, I took it out, tossed it in the trash, and totally regretted eating it and throwing it away all at the same time.
Food should not make you feel guilty. Food should not carry emotional release or make you have feelings of guilt but it does.
I have food regret. I regret eating things. I know that I had the room in my macros to eat the whole cookie if I wanted to, but I still regretted eating it.
This is because I know that a small snack I ate that day, can ruin my much desired nighttime snack. I know snacking before bed is frowned upon, but I really look forward to the “extras” like Halo Top, Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheerios, or casein protein shake at night. If I am low on my macros and still hungry I can fill that gap with whatever fits. If Cheerios fit, then I will eat Cheerios. If Halo Top fits, I will happily eat Halo Top. For me these are treats that I look forward to and I feel such regret if I eat something during the day that might jeopardize that late night snack.
It is so helpful to map out my daily food BEFORE I even eat it, so I know that morning what will work for me that day. I can even program it the night before to see what kind of snack I should pack for the next day. I can’t go without a snack before lunch, but it matters a lot what kind of snack it is.
Those impulse bites that you wish you could take away, happen to everyone. Everyone regrets or feels guilt at some point about food. Keeping track of your macros and holding yourself accountable for all the regrettable or overlooked bites of food can be what is holding you back from reaching your goals.
M • E • N • U
Chicken + Mushroom Pasta
BBQ Tacos
Chicken + Mediterranean Zucchini
Crockpot White Bean and Lemon Soup
I haven’t made chili in a long time, but with fall weather right around the corner, I hope chili seems appropriate. Another great thing about this chili is it makes a TON of food and it is packed full of vegetables.
The last time I made this chili the macro count was 434 calories, 39.4 grams of protein, 35.7 grams of carbs, and 14.9 grams of fat. I split my chili into 6 servings, so they were not small portions.
When I make a recipe in my app for a one-pot dish like chili, I always weigh out the entire pot of chili first. After I weigh out the entire amount of food I can divide it up by the amount of servings I want. I like to put in the amount of servings to see what the macros will be and adjust accordingly. I don’t want to make it 6 servings, if a serving size will be too much food for me to consume or if it’s macro count is too high/low.
If you need help with this, don’t hesitate to ask! Sometimes the hardest part of tracking, is making the recipes for your food.
Chicken + Mushroom Pasta
I have not made this pasta in a very long time. I am honestly not a big fan of mushrooms, but Josh is. That being said, I love this pasta, mushrooms and all. If you are watching your carbs, don’t be afraid of this pasta. You can make the portion sizes small and add a second side dish to help fill you up.
I am going to cook strips of chicken and add them to the top of the pasta.
The last time I cooked this (without the chicken) the macros for 7 servings was 278 calories, 13.1 grams of protein, 31.7 grams of carbs, and 11 grams of fat.
I made minimal substitutions on this recipe the last time I made it. Instead of heavy whipping cream I used whole milk, 1 Tbsp of butter instead of 2, no oil, and 4 ounces of goat cheese.
BBQ Tacos
This weekend is Anderson’s THIRD birthday party. THREE my baby boy is turning THREE. If he knew I said baby boy, he would immediately say I am not a baby and I would have to say I know, you are my big boy. The other night my brother in law, Jonah, asked him who’s boy he was and he said I am mama’s boy…cue my heart bursting.
Anyway, we are having pork sliders for his party. I am hoping for some leftovers to make my meals this week a little bit easier. IF there are leftovers I am going to use them to make BBQ tacos.
These tacos are so easy and so healthy. The green sauce I use literally nothing in it to jack-up your macros and adds so much flavor to the meat.
I saute the peppers and onions in 10ml of oil, with some salt and pepper. Heat the meat in the green sauce. Put my desired amounts into a low carb tortilla and top it off with my favorite hot sauce! Done!
**Plenty of BBQ left over for weeks of BBQ Tacos**
Chicken Breast + Mediterranean Zucchini
Light and easy is exactly what I am going to need after all the birthday cake I plan on consuming this weekend. This zucchini dish is exactly that. I am going to cut way back on the amount of oil used, but keep everything else the same.
In my experience zucchini shrinks up a lot, especially if you are roasting it. I usually end up getting more than what they recommend so that I am full.
It says to use 3 Tbsp of oil to coat the zucchini…I don’t know why, but oil is widely over used in recipes. I am going to spray my pan with my olive oil pump sprayer, just enough to where my zucchini won’t stick.
Crockpot White Bean and Lemon Soup
I am a little nervous about making this soup. I love carrots in a roast or deer stew, but sometimes I find that too many carrots in a soup makes the soup sweeter than what I would like. I am hoping that will not be the case this time around.
There is a basil pesto that goes into the soup. It calls for 1/4 a cup of oil in the pesto. I am going to use 1 Tbsp of oil (maybe less) and up the lemon juice so that it is a healthy option.
Since we have so much pork left over I am going to add in some shredded boston butt to make it a hearty soup.
Don’t forget the list!
& Go Dawgs!
