Tuesday, January 7th, 2014 - Day 2

So far, so good!  With one day under my belt, I can genuinely say that I haven't been going hungry.  From what I had read, many people found E meals resulted in being hungry soon after meals and I had a bit of that after Monday's lunch.  But the nice thing about having a meal plan already prepared was that I could look and see that I had a yummy afternoon smoothie awaiting me and so with a couple big glasses of water it was easy enough to hang in there. 

In reading and mentally preparing for this big eating change, I had thought I would really have to stick with whole type days.  So for instance I had felt I would need to just have "S" days and "E" days and that I wouldn't be successful at mixing it up.  But I have to say that I've enjoyed the different types of meals throughout the day!

E Breakfast:  Two slices of Ezekiel Bread (sold on the shelf at Trader Joe's, but also available in the freezer section of most all Publix stores), topped w/ 2 tsp. total of Polaner's All Fruit Raspbery spread + fresh raspberries + fat free cottage cheese.  Loved-loved-loved the Ezekiel bread!  So thrilled to have this bread option on the plan AND two slices at a time.  Makes my midwestern heart glad :-)  The raspberries were delicious and I had a cup of Tazo Awake tea, sweetened with Truvia.  The only Blah moment for me was the fat free cottage cheese.  I think I will either have to bump it up to 1% (totally allowed, but I guess I was trying to "win" by going fat free...) or just skip and do light Baby Bell cheese round instead, because the texture of this just gagged me.  I choked it down but only barely.

S Morning Snack:  Half an avocado w/ sea salt and fresh black pepper + one 100-calorie pack of roasted, lightly salted almonds.  I am definitely seeing a trend here that I will need a snack a couple hours after an E meal.  Usually I would not have the handy 100-calorie almond packs, but there were some left over from a recent trip and I took advantage of the helpful portion control - vital since I love almonds!

S Lunch:  Fried Salmon Cakes + Tossed Salad. Oooh yeah.  These were outstanding!  My grandma (who lives with us and puts up with my culinary escapades) and I were drooling over these salmon cakes - think crab cakes but better.  The recipe can be found in the book, but the gist is two cans of drained wild-caught salmon, one whole egg, a palmful of flaxseed flour and season to taste.  I added in some diced green onion and fried them in coconut oil for about 5 minutes on each side. It's hard to keep salads interesting - don't get me wrong, I love them!  But making each one different is nearly impossible, so I stick with the basics and just add in whatever sounds complimentary to the meal.  This one had the usual suspects of romaine and spinach, plus a couple thin strips of orange pepper, a bit of purple onion, half of an avocado (again, this was to serve two people) and tossed in just a tablespoon or slightly more of Ken's Ranch.

FP Afternoon Snack:  Thin Mint Smoothie.  This was just really, really good!  Even my husband loved it, and all the kids enjoyed a sip as well.  I did not have rolled oats nor sugar free chocolate syrup, so I just used what I had.  I blended up the steel cut oats for about a minute and they worked perfectly.  Also, I have both vanilla and chocolate whey on hand, so I did half a scoop of each instead of a full one of vanilla as the recipe calls for - this gave it that hint of chocolate that the syrup probably would have.  This is another smoothie that if you drink the entire thing by yourself, you're probably closer to an E snack (due to the oats).  But I split the serving - still had a full cup to drink! - and thus it was a FP.

E Dinner: Tikka Tikka Chicken + Quinoa + Tossed Salad.  It's rare enough to have a meal that everyone (4 adults, 3 kids and a baby not yet eating) enjoys, and this one was really a hit!  I served the chicken mix over white rice for the kids, because baby steps here, and on a bed of about 2/3 cups cooked quinoa.  I was pleasantly surprised - having NEVER cooked with it before! - at how very quick and easy the quinoa was to make up.  I took the package's suggestion and instead of cooking it in water, I used a fat free, organic chicken broth.  It was so creamy and fluffy all at the same time.  I made the recipe exactly as called for, other than I somehow failed to notice the 1 cup of tomato sauce clearly listed on the recipe when making my grocery list.  As a result, I had to sub with a low-sugar marinara sauce, but I don't think there was much of a difference in taste, because oh man! It was yum :-)  Salad included romaine, spinach, red and orange peppers, light feta crumbles and tossed in a fat-free, naturally low-sugar Cranberry Vinaigrette (also from Kroger).

FP Evening Snack: Blackberry Cake + 3 oz. red wine (still working through the pinot).  Now, I will say that I once again missed some of the planned ingredients in my shopping, so I had to fudge this recipe as linked, but it worked out great. You'll note that the link is for a Pumpkin Pie Cake... well, I set out all the ingredients to whip this up right after the kids went to bed and lo and behold I had forgotten to get any pumpkin!  But at this point, I had gotten out all the ingredients and was not giving up :-)  So I mashed up four blackberries to equal the two tablespoons of pumpkin the recipe calls for, and subbed a hearty shake of cloves for the pumpkin pie spice.  I also haven't had the chance to order any glucommanan, so I used a slightly smaller amount of xanthan gum and I think I achieved the right texture - possibly a tiny bit less would have been just perfect. The recipe as made yields enough for two small ramekin-sized cakes, and one person can have both however my husband and I each had just one.

Monday, January 6th, 2014 - Day 1

Prior to starting, I did a thorough cleaning and reorganizing of our pantry and seasoning cupboard.  I'm sure this isn't necessary, but it was so nice to feel ready for the change mentally and organizationally.  We had gone grocery shopping over the weekend and loaded up on lots of items at Trader Joe's and Kroger's - let me just note that Kroger has a truly outstanding organic/natural section.  I knew it previously, but I hadn't really poured over the items like I did on Sunday afternoon.  They had some specialty flour (almond flour, oat flour) and other randomness (xanthan gum, Bragg's Nutritional Yeast, Chia Seeds) that I had been certain would need to be ordered online.  So yay for Kroger!  I think that you could get started on THM eating without a lot of the more specialty items... that being said, I was anxious to dive into some of the more yummy looking recipes and snacks and several called for ingredients I just did not have.

It was great to load up, and I would note that if you wanted to dive into THM with a lot of the items they mention throughout the book, budget yourself $75 - 150 above and beyond your typical grocery budget *for the initial shop*.  I do not think the weekly/monthly costs of eating in this fashion will be very much extra - as they point out in the book, there are many ways to do THM on the cheap, especially if you do not mind going without variety... But I do.  I love the process of eating, meal planning and serving yummy food up for others to enjoy; it is just hardwired into my DNA, and I know that it is not realistic that we would do beans and brown rice every night.  All of that being said, I priced out a typical month and it was not much more than what we were already spending - maybe an extra $40/month.

My wonderful husband helped me prepare the following template for THM meal planning.  If you are interested in the template, just leave a comment and I would be happy to email it to you!  Once I had filled it out and stuck it to the fridge, I felt ready to commence our week of healthy eating :-)

Green is for S or "Satisfying" Meals/Snacks; Blue is for E or "Energizing" Meals/Snacks; Orange is for FP or "Fuel Pull" Meals/Snacks.

S Breakfast: Fall Flavors Muffin-in-a-Mug w/ just a squirt of Fat Free whipped cream on top. Yum!  Tips on the recipe: use just a dash more cocoa and cook to only 50 or 55 seconds to ensure it stays moist. I also chopped up our cranberries, which dispersed the lovely tart flavor throughout the entire muffin.  Although I'm sure it works perfectly well in a mug, I used a ramekin and it really looked pretty (prior to me shoveling half of it and then remembering to take a pic, haha).

E Lunch: Tuna Medley + 2 Rye Wasa Crackers spread with a wedge of Light Spicy Laughing Cow Cheese (half of the package spread on each cracker for a total of only one wedge) + two cantaloupe wedges.  I can envision having this light, fresh lunch many times over the upcoming weeks, with a variety of light Laughing Cow cheese flavors, different fruits and whatnot.  For my tuna medley, I simply dumped one packet of tuna (in water, of course), chopped up a bit of orange pepper, red pepper and green onion and tossed with about a tablespoon and a half of a fat free, <5 grams of sugar/serving dressing (a wasabi dijon, to be specific - bought it at Kroger).

FP Afternoon Snack: Apple Pie Smoothie.  Note that in the recipe, this drink would be considered much closer to an E snack if you consume the full amount as listed.  A half serving is still well within FP, and so I split it with my husband.  We had differing opinions... He felt it was a little flavorless, while I felt it had a nicely subdued apple pie flavor.  My kids each had a taste too, because of course, and it had mixed reviews again - one loved it, one hated it and another was very "meh" about it.  I'm not sure what could be done to make this more palatable to those on the fence, but I would make it again for myself.

S Dinner:  4 oz. Boneless Ribeye Steak + Tossed Salad + Roasted Brussel Sprouts.  Oh yeah!  It was fabulous :-)  I had picked up three of the individually packaged boneless ribeye steaks at Trader Joe's for approximately $5.70/each.  That may seem high for one dinner, but the three steaks comfortably fed four adults and three children.  Definitely way cheaper than taking the same amount to a steak house! I pan seared the steaks in about two or three tablespoons of Kerrygold Butter (make the investment - the stuff is truly amazing) and seasoned with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.  It was my first time roasting brussell sprouts and we (adults) all went crazy for them!  I used Ina Garten's recipe and would not change a thing - the only step I did that is not outlined is chopping the sprouts in half before baking them.  Salad consisted of chopped up romaine, spinach, a sprinkling of cheddar and diced avocado, and tossed with a light drizzle of Ken's Steakhouse Ranch.

S Evening Snack:  Skinny Chocolate + 3 oz. red wine (pinot).  Now, I was nervous to make the skinny chocolate.  I messaged with my friend Michelle who is also a THM follower and sought some advice.  It just, I don't know... I guess it didn't seem like it could possibly be good.  I mean, I l-i-k-e chocolate.  Chocolate likes me.  I didn't want to ruin a good thing.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  The description so many have given of it tasting like a mellow Almond Joy is pretty accurate.  It was smooth, creamy and melted nicely in the mouth.  As it was my first foray into making it and I was sure it was going to be terrible, I waaay over-sweetened it.  Even so, it was still pretty good and the next time I will scale back and follow the recipe more spot-on.  I'm excited for all the variations that could be made and look forward to having this as an S snacking option!

Welcome!

Welcome to my personal Trim Healthy Mama blog, where I will be sharing in my journey towards achieving a healthier lifestyle!

I have a wonderful, full life and have been richly blessed with salvation, tremendous family and great friends.  However, after four children in six years and now in my early thirties, I am realizing that this is the ideal time to drop the extra pounds I have been carrying and work towards transforming the way our entire family eats.

After a number of semi-successful attempts to slim down (oh, let me count the ways! low-calorie/calorie-counting, atkins, chicken + brown rice, etc...) where I saw good results but found myself either very bored, low on energy, or plateau'ing after an initial loss, I had recently reached a place where I just thought, "Oh well.  I am heavier than I want to be, but in otherwise good health, and I really don't know where to start or what to believe about Healthy Eating, so I'm just going to stop stressing about it." Maybe you've been there, too?

In a way, it was freeing.  But there was still the little voice whispering in the back of my mind saying, "You need to improve your health - you may not always feel good being heavier than you should be!" or "It's time to take charge of your families' health and set your kids on a path of excellent eating for life!" and so forth and so on.  My children already eat very well - but I felt I could do even better.  They will be in my home, under my guidance, for such a short season of life - didn't I want to make the most of this time and nourish them to the best of my ability?  Of course.  I just wasn't sure how.

Then one day online, I happened to stumble across a book recommendation for "Trim Healthy Mama" by Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett.  No local bookstores had any in stock, so I purchased the e-book and began reading, and reading, and reading!  The book is LONG.  Filled with so much nutritional information, ideas and recipes, it was a lot to take in and I probably dragged the reading out over the course of six weeks. But wow!  So much of what they said resonated with me, and even if it wasn't always new information, the way they presented it made an impact.

I chatted with my husband for a few days about the idea and laid out the condensed version of the book's nutritional approach and he was on board.  We began on Monday, January 6th and my hope is to track the meals we eat and share them with others who are interested in the THM lifestyle.