Tags
Bell pepper, Cook, Food, Garlic, lose weight, Meat, Olive oil, Salad, Vinaigrette, Vinegar
The doctor says I must lose weight. So what’s new. I know that, and I know the things I must do to make that happen. So how come it is so hard? I think that changing one’s diet is harder than learning a new language. But I must, so here goes.
I lay awake last night due to my fibromyalgia flare-up I had yesterday, and one of the things I was thinking about in my half-sleep state was all the lovely and delicious salads I could make with the season’s fresh produce and items in my pantry. Well, it’s better than dreaming of monsters under my bed, isn’t it? I came up with a few that I wrote down this morning. I am not the kind of cook who needs a recipe for everything, especially when it comes to mixing things up from my pantry and frig; so I don’t have real recipes, just general ingredients, for the salads I am dreaming of. So here goes – this is my list so far.
1. Caprise – tomato, cucumbers, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, and balsamic. 2. Cole slaw – cabbage, apple, raisin, onion, green pepper, mayo and sour cream dressing. 3. Fresh corn, black beans, sliced red onion, parsley, vinaigrette made of rice wine vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Maybe add some blueberries to this one. 4. Bean salad – green beans, white cannelloni beans, yellow beans, red onion, and balsamic vinaigrette. 5. Tuna, celery, parsley, minced onion, mayo/lemon juice dressing. 6. Fruit salad – a nice variety of fruits with different tastes and textures, no dressing, but add some fresh mint.This is not a salad, but I’m thinking chili would be good, and I have all the ingredients. I’ll put it in my slow cooker so as not to heat up the kitchen during this very hot weather. Now, this looks good, maybe with mushrooms instead of olives:
I will also eat lean meat such as chicken breasts, and fish such as salmon and cod. I have already given up processed sugar, and that was not as hard as I thought it would be, seeing as I think I am addicted to that stuff. No baked goods or white things such as white rice, white bread, potatoes. You all know about that. It sounds pretty simple, and as long as I eat enough of the things I can eat, I should not get hungry and want the FORBIDDEN FOODS. And I am keeping a bowl of cut up veggies in the frig – cukes, carrots, green peppers – plus almonds and peanut butter in small quantities for snacks. I have a variety of herbs, tomatoes, and some fajita green peppers in my garden that I can add at will, and adding a piece of fruit once in a while – have to watch the fructose.
You may have noticed mayo and sour cream in the list. I believe if I eat that kind of dressing only once a week, I should be okay, and of course olive oil is a good kind of fat.
Exercise – I will be either walking or swimming every day. That’s it, and I’ll let you know periodically how I am doing. If anyone has some other ideas, please feel free to let me know.