Confused? I bet you are! I've been getting a lot of people asking me what i am doing for my meal planning day by day. And by what some of you have told me, you are a bit confused about Carbs and Protein. For some of us, it's hard to know what type of food is a Carb and what is a Protein........although i think that most of us can figure the protein thing out but some things might surprise you!
Most people think of Carbs as potatoes, rice, wheat (bread, pasta) etc.......while this is true and it is also these carbs (the simple carbs) that i want you to stay away from during this 2 month challenge. Now, i'm not one for a no Carb diet......that is just silly cause i don't know about you but I do not want to end up in the hospital from too many fainting spells or going into Ketosis or have low mood swings! I'm doing this to feel better about my self and damn it.........just plain feel good! You've all heard the the key to losing weight is cutting out the bad carbs, the white carbs.......well it's true.
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| Bad Carb (but really yummy!) |
So i want you to get your carbs from vegetables and lots of them! Veggies that are green, yellow, red or purple are very high in the good carbs.
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| Good Carb (and still yummy!) |
The great thing about eating clean is the combining lean protein and complex carbs at each of the small meals eaten over the course of the day. Together they normalize insulin levels and slow the release of glucose which in turns slows the carb-to-fat conversion cause it takes more work to digest these foods. It will rev up your metabolism, so you burn more fat! How simple is that?
Is this getting too technical for you? I'll confuse you even more with the amount of protein that should be consumed at each and every meal. 25 grams of protein! Now you can get your protein in many different ways and i will leave it up to you to choose which way, but here are some guide lines and i trust you to make the right choice!
Egg whites 5-7 115 cals
Low-fat yogurt 2 cups 220 cals
Whey protein powder 1 oz 128 cals
Tofu 1 cup 274 cals
Skinless chicken breast 4 oz 125 cals
Salmon 4 oz 234 cals
Lean beef tenderloin 4 oz 240 cals
Quinoa 2 cups 509 cals
Almonds 3/4 cup 621 cals
Natural peanut butter 6 tbsp 600 cals
Well, i hope you get my drift! Although things like almonds are a healthy fat ( and we really need those), they are calorie dense and should be used sparingly
So mix and match your proteins, add as many veggies as you want and aim for about 350-500 cals per mini meal!
Here's what i ate today:
- 1 cup of my Quinoa/oatmeal cereal with 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 cup low fat yogurt, 1/2 apple pair with 2 tbsp peanut butter, 2 slices low fat deli ham
- 4 oz lean beef, 1/2 steamed rutabaga, 1 cup steamed spinach
- 1 protein drink
- 4 oz pork tenderloin stir fry with eggplant, zuchini and onion
- not sure what i will have for a snack if i am hungry!
Happy cooking, eating and combining! If you do it right~it does pay off!
live life and love
Ok, so from that I can see that my 1TBSP of peanut butter that I am having for breakfast is not enough. I could add yogurt or cottage cheese. I do have milk in my oatmeal so that helps.
ReplyDeleteI may have to find that Quinoa stuff.
Here was today and do not worry, I will not be writing every day.
oatmeal, milk, peanut butter, celery
carrots, celery, ham
chicken wrap with veggies ( made it but it was a bit soggy)
banana....(left the cottage cheese out so didn't eat it)
salade with chickpeas, balsamic vinigar
strawberries and ham.
A bit light on the protein, I will work on the water drinking for Wednesday.
D
drcantor: A much better revised meal plan! Keep it up and yes, of course you will have to keep tweaking it as time goes on. Your body will tell you as you go along. Try bringing all your ingredients for your wrap separately and putting it together just before you eat........that way it won't be soggy! YOur dinner sounds good but why not add a small piece of fish with it. I think that would round it out nicely.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work
I made my own apple sauce last night as it is almost impossible to find unsweetened. It took no time at all and was delicious. This really helped get the oatmeal down this morning!
ReplyDeleteI find the protein powder really helps...I used your cheat Robyn! I like the Manitoba Harvest hemp one. Snacks are the most difficult part for me and I keep running out of time to eat everything! I had a spinach salad with some salmon for lunch with half a lemon squeezed on and a small drizzle of olive oil. Dinner is skinless chicken breast with a ton of different veg. Everyone should definitely get the quinoa, I know it is a bit pricey, but totally versatile and satisfying. There are some nice little bags of plain unsalted almonds at Shoppers Drug Mart right now for a really good price, and a bag will last a long time.
It's going well overall...I think I might see an ab under there already!
Well LIz, i'd say you didn't have far to go if you are already seeing an Ab! It will be awhile for any of mine to show up, but when they do.........i will be celebrating! Way to go!
ReplyDelete