Discovering new foods

I realized today that I haven't really told you what the basis of my lifestyle change is about. So here is a quick synopsis of the doctors orders. I am not allowed to eat any fried food, I am not allowed to have anything that has more than 5 grams of sugar in it per serving, no hydrogenated oil, no partially hydrogenated oil, no high fructose corn syrup, nothing that has sugar listed in the first 3 ingredients, I am to limit my intake of breads/grains to 2 pieces of whole grain bread a day, I am not allowed any more than 25 grams of saturated fat per day, I was not allowed any sugar/sweets/fruit for 2 weeks, now I can have 2 servings of fruit per day and those are the only sweets I am allowed to have, I am to only drink water, decaffeinated unsweetened tea, decaffeinated black coffee(which I hate tea and coffee so I can have Water!) and I am to only have 3 to 4 servings of red meat per week! Whew! So there you have a lot of rules of guidelines to live by eh? Oh and I am to eat 5 small meals a day. A small breakfast, a mid morning snack, a small lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner with appropriate single servings. Oh yeah and don't forget, don't eat within 3 hours of bedtime and do crunches daily and walk twice a week! Ok so there you have my life for the last 3 weeks, lots of adjustments! But becoming more and more normal everyday!

If you are trying to lose weight but you are a carb junkie you should try the whole wheat and whole grain products. Although I can't eat things like whole grain waffles and pancakes I can eat different things. The following products don't contain high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils and they don't have sugar listed in the first 3 ingredients so I can eat them: barilla whole grain spaghetti, barilla whole grain penne noodles, mama mary's premade whole wheat pizza crust (I can only find this at meijer), aunt millies light whole grain bread, aunt millies hearth deluxe whole grain hamburger and hot dog buns and kix cereal. These are things that I can have occasionally. I am trying to make a pizza or pasta dish once a week as a treat! The kix I am alternating in and out of my breakfast routine in place of my bread for the day! I am very limited on the amount of grains I can have in one day so I have to choose carefully!

Even if you aren't dieting, these foods are healthy alternatives for you and your family! With the pizza you can put turkey sausage and turkey pepperoni and load it up with veggies and enjoy a great pizza while cutting the fat and calories! Happy eating!