Food & Eating: Time to Get Back to the Basics

I grew up on mostly chicken and veggies. Then, when I went away to college, salads and whole wheat pasta were what kept me going. Actually, I was not particularly fond of steak or BBQ until I met Aaron. Raised on a farm in southeastern Arizona, Aaron is definitely a meat-and-potatoes guy. After we got married, I realized pretty quickly that healthy cooking was not the quickest way to his heart, and I learned to adjust. Ground beef or Italian sausage were added to my spaghetti sauce, fries or tater tots had to accompany every hot sandwich or burger, and whole wheat flour and applesauce were no longer appropriate baking substitutions. After all, as a newlywed, making sure that my husband knew I could cook well was of the utmost importance -- and toned-down versions of tasty recipes were just not going to cut it. And so the pounds crept onto both of us...

After a year or so of marriage, I was finally comfortable enough with my husband's confidence in my cooking that I could start sneaking in some healthier options. I introduced grilled salmon into my repertoire, started substituting potatoes with whole grain brown & wild rice, replaced pork Italian sausage with turkey Italian sausage in my pasta sauces, and experimented with roasting, grilling, and sauteeing more varieties of veggies. His response was surprisingly positive, but we still couldn't seem to eliminate some culprits, like tortilla chips, from our diets (we REALLY love salsa).

But now, I'm proud to report, we've decided to try healthier eating

-- at least for a few weeks. As Aaron's uncle James, the founder of Weightless Fitness, has pointed out, the most efficient way to lose extra weight (in addition to being active, of course!) is to train one's body to burn stored fat instead of sugar -- which means cutting carbs. So, I've built some menus that rely on lean proteins, like chicken and fish, and veggies, while still looking appetizing and delivering some degree of flavor. And in case anyone reading this might want to trim down, too, I thought I'd share some of what I've come up with, based on my family's tastes.

Breakfast:

Egg white omelette with diced ham, onions, and bell peppers

Light yogurt

Lunch/snacks:

Sliced smoked chicken or turkey breast
Baby carrots

Sliced bell pepper

Raw sugar snap peas

String cheese

Almonds

Dinner:

Marinated grilled salmon with grilled sweet corn

Jalapeño-lemon tilapia (cooked in foil packet) with roasted veggies

Grilled chicken kabobs

Cuban burgers (sans buns) with black beans and side salad

Grilled chicken salad

Green chile turkey burgers (sans buns) with grilled veggies

Hopefully we can stick with it, at least for a while!