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Growing up, I wasn’t a well-rounded eater. My mom was a single, working parent, so there wasn’t a lot of cooking going on in our house. Plus she is one of the least adventurous people – when it comes to food – that I’ve ever met. Not that I’m putting my issues with food on my mom. Well, I am, but just a little. Don’t worry, my therapist says it’s fine.
Anyway, it wasn’t until I went to college that I realized it wasn’t that I didn’t like certain foods. It was that I didn’t like how my mom made them (anymore else?). That or I hadn’t even tried them because they weren’t in Mom’s repertoire. Now that I was out on my own (as out on my own as I could be with my parents paying my tuition, room and board), I expanded my food horizons…and at the same time, expanded my waist line.
What I’m finding now, as I try to drop the weight, is that my willingness to try new things is making eating better easier. If I was eating a salad with grilled chicken on it every single day for lunch, I can almost guarantee that I would be going AWOL from this adventure out of sheer food-boredom. Here are some of the “stranger” things I’ve added to my food catalogue lately:
Plain Greek Yogurt with Low Calorie Natural Protein Powder
When I first started eating low carb/high protein to lose this damn weight, protein shakes were my go-to breakfast. So much that I OD’ed on them and now the smell of them makes me want to vomit, which is not the kind of diet I want to be on. I still had a ton of protein powder left over, so I started to add it to random things to up the amount of protein I was taking in. One of my newly-discovered favorites is to add a flavored protein powder to plain Greek yogurt. Now, yes, you can buy flavored Greek yogurt, but one of those only has around 12 grams of protein, whereas the same amount of plain Greek yogurt with a half scoop of protein powder has 17. And buying the big container of plain Greek yogurt at the grocery store is way cheaper. Win-win.
There are mornings that I oversleep am too busy to put together my Greek yogurt/protein powder combo, so I have to go to the backup plan. After all, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail, right? So my grab-and-go breakfast back-up is these handy single serve muffins I can make in the office microwave. I don’t understand the black magic behind it, but you just add some water, nuke it, and you’ve got a decent tasting muffin with 20 grams of protein. They are actually so filling sometimes I eat it in two stages – which is fine by me. I’ve also bought the brand’s pancake mix, but I haven’t given it a try yet. I’ll report back.
Spiralized Everything
If you followed our PGP Secret Santa, you know that the best Secret Santa ever, Post Grad Shibby, got me a
Veggetti Pro Table-Top Spiralizer. Now, maybe I’m childish, but I believe that everything tastes better in fun shapes, particularly when I’m trying to pretend that zucchini noodles (aka Zoodles) are an adequate replacement for pasta. And really, what’s more fun than one long giant curly-Q? I’ve taken to spiralizing everything: zucchini, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, apples. Does it change the fact that whatever I’m eating is not whatever I wish I was eating? No, but it makes it a little more fun.
Even with the wonder of the Veggetti, there are just days when spiralized zucchini just won’t cut it. So that’s when I turn to Banza. Now, know this: I hate chickpeas. I hate them in salads. I hate hummus. I avoid chickpeas like Roger Goodell avoids New England. So I was super skeptical when my nutritionist told me about chickpea pasta. Just try it, she said. It doesn’t taste like chickpeas, she said. And as much as I hate to say it, she’s right. While it still has a higher carb count that I usually go for, it also has almost five times the amount of protein than regular pasta, so I don’t feel that bad when I indulge. Does it taste exactly like regular pasta? No. But with some homemade sauce, it’s a really good facsimile.
Another recommendation from my nutritionist. Yes, it sounds like a child’s snack. But we’ve already established I’m a bit childish when it comes to food, so who cares? Despite the name, Mr. Cheese O’s are actually made for adults and are a delicious way to get a cheesy crunch in, which can be hard when you’re cutting carbs. They are individually packaged (with 10 grams of protein, 6 grams of carbs and about 150 calories per pack) so there is instant portion control if you happen to have no willpower, as I do. The cheddar and parmesan flavors are my favs, but I haven’t tried French onion yet. Pro-tip: I also crush these up and put them on salads or use them as breadcrumbs.
Ok, so this one isn’t too weird, but I love it so much that everyone must know about it. Halo Top is basically a low sugar, low carb, higher protein version of ice cream for when I just fucking want ice cream, which honestly isn’t very often. My high school job was scooping ice cream and being around it for endless summers sort of dulled my desire. Even so, there are still times I just crave it, and Halo Top is a healthier alternative that tastes as good – if not better – than the real thing. It comes in 17 flavors, some of which are hard to find, but I highly recommend Birthday Cake and Peanut Butter Cup.
These are just a few of the “new to me” foods I’ve started to incorporate into my diet. Given that I promised to write this column for 6 months, I’m sure there will be a part 2… and probably 3, 4, 5, and 6 on the weeks that I don’t have anything else to write about. If you’ve got something you think I should try, drop it in the comments..
Starting weight to Lose: 30 pounds
Week 1 Results: – 1.1 pounds
Week 2 Results: – 2.1 pounds
Week 3 Results: +0.4 pounds
Week 4 Results: – 0.2 pounds
Remaining weight to lose: 26.2 pounds
I’ll be chatting weekly about my progress with JR Hickey on our podcast, “Don’t Take It From Us.” New eps will be released every Wednesday, so check it out on Soundcloud below or subscribe on ITunes!
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Jenna Crowley
Jenna used to be known as 2NOTBrokeGirls, but then one of the girls actually went broke, so she's struck out on her own. Jenna spends her free time saving the world, one sorority girl at a time (usually while wearing yoga pants), questioning why she decided to get a doctorate, documenting her love of all things cheese related, and hosting the new PGP podcast Don't Take It From Us. You can ask her anything you want about football, using your boobs to get what you want, and pizza at @JennaLCrowley on Twitter or via email at JennaLCrowley@gmail.com.
@JennaLCrowley
@donttakeitfromus
I’m actually on a weight loss mission for this year. December I hit my heaviest of 252. Said fuck that and eased into a diet. here are somethings I’ve discovered are life savers.
Sugar free Jell-O snacks, both pudding and gelatin. My biggest problem is my sweet tooth. These are cheap, low-cal, and kill the craving enough to get through a night.
Fresh turkey burgers. I’m still a big guy and eat a decent amount. Discovered that a 1/2 pound lean turkey burger (with bun and cheese) comes in at about 500 Calories.
Soylent. Perhaps the holy grail. I bought the bottled version and it is now my daily lunch, along with a banana and a pudding snack. The main thing I got out of this was portion control. A bottle will fill you up. May take a week to get used to but once you do, it really is wonderful.
The best tool I have is MyFitnessPal. I use it mainly to come up with solid meals under 500 calories. Its nice to be able to scan things into a recipe and see how it all adds up.
And for what its worth, as of last friday I’m at 234, 18 lbs down from January 1st.
MyFitnessPal is without a doubt the most used app on my phone. I am down to 195 from 225 back in October just by watching what I eat 5-6 days a week and still enjoying my weekends. Now if only I could transfer my meticulousness of my diet to my monthly budget…
Big fan of MyFitnessPal as well…I like how after you finished with all of your entries for the day, it estimates how much weight you will lose in five weeks if you had the same amount of net calories every day for five weeks. Gives you a small pat on the back if you were good that day or a kick in the ass if you had an off day.
Awesome job!!!
I’m honestly not a fan of all these “facsimile” foods. I think it’s setting the wrong mindset and some of the fake ingredients often cause digestion or other issues.
Just eat real, whole foods. I lost 80 pounds eating high protein, low carb and ate normal, unprocessed food. The whole point of low carb/keto is that you’re replacing the carbs with a higher fat/protein intake to increase satiety. IME, these “fake” foods don’t do that.
To each their own of course, and I wish you all the luck in reaching your goals, but that’s just my two cents.
Sometimes the faux-foods are as vital mentally as they are physically. If you have a craving and you can’t beat it, like ice cream, Halo Top is WAY better than the real deal. It’s not necessarily a question of willpower, because your brain can become seriously addicted to these snack foods and sweets. Some people find kicking sweets as hard as quitting smoking. Even if it’s only 50% as bad for you, it’s still a big step in the right direction.
Possibly. I just see it as a way of encouraging disordered eating by declaring certain foods as “bad”. Real ice cream is not bad. It is a food just like chicken or broccoli, though with some obvious minimal processing.
By developing a healthy relationship with whole food, you can eat and feel satisfied while allowing yourself the occasional indulgence without feeling guilty or like you broke some rule. This isn’t a question of morality, certain foods aren’t “evil”.
Again, this is simply my opinion and coming from someone who went from 275 to 185 and learned some lessons along the way.
Now I want to try a veggie spiral stir fry… and I didn’t pack lunch. PGP.
Looooove Halo Top. My sister is studying nutrition and recommended it, and now I’m addicted. The s’mores one is also delicious
Their pistachio is my favorite
My best tip is that there is ALWAYS a healthier alternative to what you’re craving. Ice cream? Frozen banana blended with protein powder and greek yogurt. Pizza? Cauliflower crust, light cheese, loaded with veggies. Mac and cheese? Muscle mac. Also, find something that can be made quickly and easily but is still healthy. (Frozen bean burritos are my go-to) When you’re in a rush or caught in a bind it can be easy to say screw it and just grab fast food, but if you have a few staple items that you ALWAYS keep on hand it will save you 9 times out of 10.
A guy for GQ wrote an article on only eating Halo Top for 10 days. Lost 10lbs, 3% body fat, and 1.5″ off his waist. He said the diet kind of sucks because eating only ice cream gets tedious and he developed a canker sore.
He did the entire thing with a nutritionist and his trainer, I’d suggest checking out the article. Just gotta google gq halo top diet.
Losing that amount of weight that quickly isn’t healthy.
10 pounds is nothing. If it was 100 lbs in 100 days sure, but a quick drop like that isn’t problematic.
This. 4-5 lbs of that was simply water stored in the body that gets released when you go lower carb.
Yeah, this is a terrible way to diet. Your body needs vitamins/minerals that are only found in fruits and veggies.
Do you have any tips for cleaning your spiralizer because mine always takes for every and I always cut up my sponge or my fingers trying to clean it so it detracts me from using it.
Clean it right after you use it like before you cook and use a dish brush instead of a sponge! I cut my thumb on my mine and I refused to use it for a month.
glad to see the halo top here 😀
also try baking your greek yogurt and protein combo, add some sweetener, milk, cocoa powder, and cinnamon and it’s like healthy, protein-packed cupcakes. If you can up your calorie count adding a banana and egg make it next level as some chocolate banana bread
Have you tried spaghetti squash? It’s really similar to Zoodles but I think it’s better! Also cauliflower rice is my go to side dish for dinner.
I HATE spaghetti squash. I just can’t get my mind around it. I do have riced cauliflower often!
My college gf used to make recipes from this website called Trim Healthy Mom. They have some seriously great recipes using cauliflower as the “carb”. I make the buffalo bacon chicken casserole all the time still.
Also along the lines of the mighty muffins, I love Kodiak Cakes pancake mix.
Cauliflower rice is bomb!! I top it with seasoned chicken and salsa, super healthy high protein low carb and low sugar! Plus it’s filling/I get to pretend I am eating chipotle!
Love love love love Halo Top! Highly recommend mint chocolate and red velvet as well.