suggestions to fine tune my foods

luly727
luly727 Posts: 202 Member
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
I have been doing pretty good with keeping under my calories. My main concern is low fat/ low calories for my cholesterol levels.

I am fine with the way I eat, but my hubby is getting bored :( and then he eats everything in the house that I buy for my snacks or he just eats ANYTHING!!!

I would like some one please to go thru my dairy and give me recipe ideas, I have the Biggest Loser Cookbook but was disappointed as some of the stuff doesnt even look or sound good.

only things I will not eat are beets,liver, clams or very spicy food.

I am down to lots of fish ( we fish alot so most if fresh) chicken, turkey, and on special occasions I will make something with Extra Lean Ground sirloin. All dairy is Fat Free, No eggs ( I use Eggbeaters). We grow alot of veggies and freeze for the winter. Fruits I buy some fresh like banana , cantalope or watermelon, other I buy canned in juice only.

Thanks for any input and suggestions. I am headed towards the recipe section to look around :)

Replies

  • 4lafz
    4lafz Posts: 1,078 Member
    Search the Recipe Forum here under Message boards.

    You could also try:

    www.hungry-girl.com - more snacks that real meals but she does swaps - fat for low calorie

    www. eatingwell.com

    www.3fatchicks.com

    www.skinnytaste.com

    I have found some great recipes - going to try white chicken chili next (not too spicy). I do lots of halibut and chicken.

    Hope this helps ya!
  • canroadrunner
    canroadrunner Posts: 203 Member
    Try sweet potato fries in the oven, bake them crispy and then dip in low fat ranch dressy.
  • peck113
    peck113 Posts: 19
    I know you said you had a cholesterol problem, may I ask about your blood pressure, do you have problems with it too? I know with a lot for people they go hand and hand? The reason I'm asking is because I noticed that you eat a lot of fat free foods. The only problem with that is when the companies take out the fat they have to add something else back in to make it taste good. Most of the time what they add is soduim and sugar.

    You've got to try and be creative with your cooking. If there are foods at your favorite restaurant that you like but you know are not good for you then make a health verson of it at home. I do that with everythings from salads to pizzas. With you growing your own veggies it would be easy to make stir fry with chicken and shrimp. Just go crazy with the veggies and use brown rice with it. Another one of my favorites to play with is mexican foods. You can for sure make healthy fajitas, home made guacamole, black beans.

    When working with my clients on their diets I tell them to eat as fresh and made from scratch as you can. And as Jillian Michael would say, "if it didn't grow from the ground or if it didn't have a mother, then don't eat it."

    Hope this helps a little.
    Good luck.
  • succeedin2
    succeedin2 Posts: 501 Member
    Question: Does your husband need to eat the same way as you? You can add things like baked sweet potatos, brocolli salad, a pasta bowl you do yourself by stir frying veggies, chicken breast and using the brown rice receipe. I hate to tell you this but you will have to hid your snacks, seriously. I make a lot of fish too and typically I sear my fish and this is how:

    Make sure your pan gets hot. I mean really hot, as in heated on high heat for at least 3-5 minutes.
    (Only then do you add olive oil) Enough to cover the bottom of the pan turn your fan on
    When the oil gets hot, slide in the fish fillets. If they are thin you can keep the heat high. If they are thick, turn it down as low as medium for a steak, medium-high for a fat fillet.
    Don't mess with it! Constant flipping is death to a good crust. Let the fish cook. If you do, then a crust will form and the fillet will release easily when you do flip it. Once. Once, I tell you!
    Let the first side cook two-thirds of the fillet. Then flip to finish the rest.
    Serve the prettier side face up on the plate.
    One last thing: When you have gone to all this work for a nice sear, put your sauce underneath the fish. Putting it on top will ruin it - FYI it only takes about 3 minutes to sear a thin piece on each side and I want to say maybe 7 for a thicker piece just don't over cook it.

    If you have crockpot, you can do a turkey breast and slow cook it with herbs and spices and add onion, garlic and bell pepper cook until you can almost cut it with a fork than you take brown rice I use brown jasmine I get at Trader Joes using the low sodium beef or chicken broth and also you can add chick peas to the rice depending on how much rice you are making, onions and other spices (make enough for at least 3 days and serve the turkey with the brown rice. Make a veggie like String beans

    I do spagetti using ground chicken to me it has more flavor and then I make my sauce use your food processor to blend it nicely it will have the consistency of a restaurant they also have ground Italian Chicken Sausage too. I use assorted pasta's sometimes of course wheat. You can do that with a salad.Ingredients


    2 packages ground turkey (about 2.5 lbs)
    1/3 cup ketchup
    1 packet onion soup mix
    3/4 cup water
    2 eggs
    3/4 cup dry bread crumbs



    Directions
    1. Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl, combine all ingredients.
    2. In 13 x 9-inch baking or roasting pan, shape into loaf.
    3. Bake uncovered 1 hour or until done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


    Optional: I also coat the shaped loaf with about a 1/4 cup of ketchup before putting in to cook (this is included in the nutritional info count)

    Number of Servings: 12

    Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user SONICKRISTIN.

    Number of Servings: 12

    Nutritional Info
    Servings Per Recipe: 12
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories: 188.3
    Total Fat: 7.9 g
    Cholesterol: 107.5 mg
    Sodium: 540.0 mg
    Total Carbs: 8.9 g
    Dietary Fiber: 0.4 g
    Protein: 20.7 g


    I will send you more.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
    if you like sort of pan-asian food, i would suggest madhur jaffrey's world of east indian cooking. it's a vegetarian cookbook and EVERYTHING i've made from it has been delicious, healthy and filling.

    http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-World-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0394748670
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
    uhm, i looked at your food diary.. there's not much to look at! i'm not sure how you're maintaining on such a small amount of food.

    it's not terribly unhealthy food, but i think you probably should eat a bit more and add some leafy greens (kale, chard, spinach) and some fibrous things like broccoli, celery, rhubarb, peas, carrots etc.

    that will help give you a bit more variety and still keep your calorie count down.. but even so, try aiming for a little more food, unless your doctor has you on some sort of program or you're not logging everything.
  • akaDumbo
    akaDumbo Posts: 187
    uhm, i looked at your food diary.. there's not much to look at! i'm not sure how you're maintaining on such a small amount of food.

    it's not terribly unhealthy food, but i think you probably should eat a bit more and add some leafy greens (kale, chard, spinach) and some fibrous things like broccoli, celery, rhubarb, peas, carrots etc.

    that will help give you a bit more variety and still keep your calorie count down.. but even so, try aiming for a little more food, unless your doctor has you on some sort of program or you're not logging everything.

    Kayemme is absolutely right your body must be in starvation mode if you are only eating what you log in your diary, it is not healthy to eat so little.

    I know you said you were worried about your cholesterol but the body needs a certain amount of fat. Try adding some veg roasted in the oven with a few herbs and some olive oil or salads with an olive oil and lemon dressing. Olive oil contains the good type of cholesterol which the body needs and it will reduce your cholesterol ratio.
  • luly727
    luly727 Posts: 202 Member
    Reply to Peck...When I went to the Dr in March, yes my BP was also elevated. I have been monitoring at home and after losing 10-lbs and doing my walks it is always at 120/70 to the low of 102/60. so that has gone down and stayed down since I lost a few lbs. And I do not add any salt at all to my foods :)

    Luly
  • mooz
    mooz Posts: 101
    A website I discovered recently was : eatbetteramerica.com They have a lot of "healtified" versions of classic recipes. I've made some of them & got rave reviews.
  • luly727
    luly727 Posts: 202 Member
    Thanks for all the advise.. to try and answer some ??, NO my husband doesnt have to follow this plan, he does because I am the one that cooks. If he is still hungry he grabs anything in the house and eats, eats, eats. Never gained a lb. He still weighs what he weighed when we got married 9 yrs ago.

    I DO log everything that I eat, every day. I know most days I am under my calories and I know that i am always low in fat gr intake . Dr put me on a low fat/ low cholesterol diet in March due to blood work results and it freaked me out, so I watch every fat gram that goes in my body. I probably do need to add more veggies in and up the calories, but how can I be in starvation mode??

    I do eat, drink water, i am not hungry during the day, and I am consistantly losing 1-2 lbs a week for the last 4 1/2 months.
    I also take a Multi Vitamin & 2000mg Omega Fish Oil a day ( dr's orders")

    I will go to those sites and check for recipes :):)
  • luly727
    luly727 Posts: 202 Member
    Thanks for all the advise.. to try and answer some ??, NO my husband doesnt have to follow this plan, he does because I am the one that cooks. If he is still hungry he grabs anything in the house and eats, eats, eats. Never gained a lb. He still weighs what he weighed when we got married 9 yrs ago.

    I DO log everything that I eat, every day. I know most days I am under my calories and I know that i am always low in fat gr intake . Dr put me on a low fat/ low cholesterol diet in March due to blood work results and it freaked me out, so I watch every fat gram that goes in my body. I probably do need to add more veggies in and up the calories, but how can I be in starvation mode??

    I do eat, drink water, i am not hungry during the day, and I am consistantly losing 1-2 lbs a week for the last 4 1/2 months.
    I also take a Multi Vitamin & 2000mg Omega Fish Oil a day ( dr's orders")

    I will go to those sites and check for recipes :):)
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
    seeings that your under the care of your doctor, i'm not going to harp on the calories thing; but i would say you should get more greens in your diet. you can eat them in almost unlimited quantities as they are extremely low calorie but full of nutrients.

    and the olive oil suggestion is a good one. olive oil is really very good for you. and a little bit here and there is beneficial for many reasons. as you are under the care of a doctor, you should ask him about which oils will benefit you; some fats are really good for you, but i'm not the expert with that.
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