Meal Substitions

For the spaghetti you could substitute whole wheat pasta or spaghetti squash and you'd probably be better off making your own sauce instead of using jar sauce so you can control what goes in. I'd forget about the garlic bread. Sausages have a lot of fat, but maybe you could go with a turkey or chicken sausage instead. I'd forget about hamburger helper as well, anything that's prepackaged like that has a lot of sodium. I don't think there's anything wrong with homemade potato wedges as long as you're careful with how much salt/oil you use. Maybe just spritz them with some cooking spray or better yet use egg white and season them with a salt free seasoning. With everything you need to watch your portion sizes.

Personally I've gone through a lot of my recipes and cut back on calories where I can. For example I made greek chicken and potatoes yesterday, the recipe called for 1/2 of olive oil and I only used 3T. Couldn't even tell the difference and I cut out a lot of fat/calories. I got the meal down to just over 200 calories.

You can do it!

spaghetti with garlic bread
porck chops with baked potato and peas/corn (canned)
Goulash
Pizza
hamburger helper
Hamburgers
sausages
steak w/potato or home made wedges

thanks in advance

My first reaction when I was reading these is that there are no vegetables.
Spag w/ garlic bread - switch to whole grain pasta, instead of sauce add veggies on top (tomatoes, broccoli, onions etc - you can stir fry these in a tiny amount of olive oil and garlic and put them on top of the pasta - the more veggies the better), skip the garlic bread and add some protein - maybe some grilled chicken. Pasta and bread are all carbs and although carbs are fine to eat any meal that is loaded one way wont be good for you in the long run.
Pork chop etc....make sure you grill or bake the chop (not fry) and the less "coating" the better - better off with some garlic and pepper then bread crumbs. Potato is fine just watch your portions and top it off with veggies rather then butter and sour cream.
goulash - again a pasta load - make your goulash with while grain pasta, ground chicken or turkey rather then beef and try to use fresh tomoatos and veggies rather then canned.
Pizza - use a whole wheat crust, skip the sauce and go for a light olive oil (its a good for you fat), top with small amoutn of cheese (if any) and load it with veggies and grilled chicken. Or ifyou really want suace choose a sauce that isnt highin sugar content and use sparingly
Hamburgers - change to ground turkey or chicken and skip the bun, put it on a whole grain wrap and add veggies
Hamburger helper - sausage - I would cut this out of your diet (mayeb rarely have it) and change your meal to chicken (baked or grilled) veggies, a salad with balsamic vinegar dressing...
Steak (choose a very lean cut of meat and grill rather then fry - but watch your red meat intake) with potato (see above suggestions on potato), maybe a rice (not white) and veggies.
good luck!!

spaghetti with garlic bread-- use spaghetti squash instead of pasta, and make your own low sodium garlic bread
pork chops with baked potato and peas/corn (canned)-- eat chicken with cauliflower and sugar snap peas over rice (pork chops & baked potato becomes *drumroll* STIR FRY!)
Pizza-- make your own low sodium crust, and load that sucker up with 6" of veggies. YUM!
hamburger helper-- use ground turkey, it will help, and utilize some of the suggestions they make on the box (add mushrooms, tomatos, etc)
Hamburgers-- use turkey patties & oroweat buns
sausages-- too much sodium in these, sorry, cut back or eliminate

You can find low sodium bread recipes here:
http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/free/Archive.htm

If you own a breadmaker, making your own bread & dough is a snap!

You can find spaghetti squash in the produce section of your local grocer. It's not uncommon. If you don't find it there, try another store with a better produce department.

Cooking everything yourself will save you a ton of money. There are ways to make your favorite fast food at home, just look up the recipes online and find ways to make them healthier.

For the pizza, go with chicken & peppers. I hated olives & mushrooms, but they taste completely different on a homemade pizza. I will put tomatoes, bell peppers, olives, onions, mushrooms, and pineapple on mine. It's amazing! I see no reason to ever eat chain pizza again.

Don't feel bad about your past food choices! My husband and I had very similar eating habits before we started. We started by making small changes and controlling our portion sizes. We measured EVERYTHING! We have since come up with some pretty good recipes that we like. Most of those recipes are adjustments to what we previously ate. Using chicken or fish instead of beef, fresh or frozen veggies instead of canned, and low/no sodium options when available are all some of the adjustments we've made. Here's a couple recipes we have that are pretty good.


Skillet enchiladas:
1 lb meat of choice, we like chicken or lean beef
1 can diced tomatoes (or about 2 cups of cooked diced tomatoes)
1 med can tomato sauce (or 2 sm cans, I haven't yet figured out how to make this myself, but working on it:laugh: )
1 can diced green peppers (or about 1/2 cup diced fresh peppers)
4 or 5 burrito size tortillas, cut into 1 inch squares
2 cups corn (frozen or fresh)
Enchilada seasoning (can be bought or you can make your own)

Brown meat in a skillet, drain if using beef. Add in tomato products, peppers and seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes until bubbling slightly. Add in corn. Simmer another 5 minutes. Add in tortilla squares. Stir well. Serve with rice, fat free sour cream, shredded cheese, or salsa.

You can add brown rice into the skillet instead of the tortillas, but you will need to add water if you do this. We use low sodium options whenever possible. Walmart has begun offering low/no sodium canned tomato products.


Hamburger Pie
1lb lean ground beef or turkey
1 can tomato soup (again, I'm trying to learn how to make this myself, but so far none of it's been quite the same. Although tomato sauce seems to work alright also.)
2-3 cups frozen veggies of choice (green beans, corn, peas, mixed, your choice!)
1/4 cup diced onion
6 servings mashed potatoes (mashed sweet potatoes are good, also. Making either fresh is best. Go easy on the milk and butter! Sweet potatoes only need a little butter to make it happen.)

Brown and drain meat. Add in soup, veggies and onion. Heat 5-10 minutes. Separately, make the mashed potatoes. In a 1.5 or 2 quart casserole dish, put the meat mixture in the bottom. Carefully spoon the potatoes on top. (Don't "throw" them on! The meat will slosh out the opposite side!) This can be topped with shredded cheese. Either microwave 2-5 minutes, or put in a 350 oven for 5 minutes.

Both of these recipes are the "starting blocks." I may add extra veggies, switch things out for something I've been craving. Don't be afraid to try something out.

If you stick to about a 1 cup serving size on both of these, you will have plenty of leftovers so that you can have easy to enter lunches! If you would like other recipes, let me know!

Good luck!

Check out Garden of Eatin blue corn chips. They are low cal and super low sodium!
Check the frozen section for the ground turkey. They come in tubes (at least ours do)

Would love that recipe for homemade salsa! I'm a sucker for chips & salsa too.

I pretty much eliminated milk & cheese from my diet. The sodium in the cheese alone just isn't worth it. I have it on occasion, but not nearly as much as I used to.

I made mini pizzas when i really want something "pizza like" but just don't have the calories left in the day... I bake them on a cookie sheet covered with foil (less clean up) at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Whole wheat tortilla sprayed with pam
Diced tomatoes from a can (the fire roasted ones are also really good)
Those grilled chicken shortcuts from tyson or perdue by the meat dept or salad dept
fresh spinach (just lay the leaves right under the cheese and they will shrivel up)
dash red pepper flakes or maybe some italian seasoning, garlic powder, etc
and Feta cheese crumbles (they pack a bigger taste punch when using less)

So yummy!