100 Pound Loss

Yesterday, I decided that breakfast should be eggs, instead of my normal bowl of cereal. Just eggs– no toast, no bread, no grits, no bacon. Eggs.

By noon, I was ready for some carbs, but lo and behold! I had none ready to go. I completely forgot about the potatoes sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten, so lunch was a cup of yogurt and some fruit.

I was so draggled by the lack of carbohydrates, in fact, that I took a 45 minute nap in the middle of the afternoon. I was beat, worn out– my day job requires me to use my brain, and I just couldn’t muster the energy!

Dinner was chili, with milk and sweet popcorn (sweetened with cinnamon) for dessert. By the end of the night, I was feeling “up” enough to solve puzzles and make jokes.

Carbs are brain food. They’re necessary for brain functioning and problem solving, and they’re crucial fuel for the long haul. By shortchanging my carbs in the morning and at lunch, I hindered my own ability to work my job and be a productive individual.

In the Weight Watchers Core plan, carbs are severely limited, and with good reason. Carbs are very high in fast, easy calories, and they’re often combined with other fattening things (like butter on popcorn). This combination makes it hard to keep your body from getting as much fuel (calories) from the carbs and, because they’re an easy food to metabolize, storing it in fat.

Carbohydrates are probably the best example of my need for moderation. I’m what I like to call a “carb eater.” If I don’t eat some carbohydrates, I am miserable. My diet regimen is never so pitiful as it is when I’m not allowed any bread or pasta. What’s more, if I don’t have some carbs in my diet, I will find them outside my plan– either by sneaking or cheating!

I think yesterday’s example shows, to me at least, that skipping a carb in the morning is a bad idea if I don’t have a plan to include them in lunch.

Last night, we decided it was time to return to Mexican night at Casa de 100-pound-loss. Mexican food is fraught with peril for weight losers. You have beans, usually high in points values. Meat. Cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tortillas, chips, margaritas…

But it doesn’t have to be that way. A traditional lunch in the Hispanic world does not have any of the really fatty ingredients (cheese, sour cream, guacamole) at all! In fact, when you go to a Mexican taqueria for lunch, you’ll often find that the default burrito is beans, rice, meat, and some produce, all wrapped in a flour tortilla– the high fat items are added at American restaurants.

If, however, you are staring down the barrel of that burrito and counting up the points, you quickly reach “more than I can possibly use” and get discouraged.

So, here’s how to make a healthier Mexican meal for Weight Watchers Core plan members:

Celery and salsa. High-point tortilla chips are best used as a carrier for salsa. Substitute 0-point celery for the chip. It’s almost flavorless, gives you some much-needed water and fiber, and you get the salsa kick! If you don’t slice your celery stalks lengthwise, they’re a natural scoop!

The Taco Salad. You have a choice with your entree. If you don’t want to spend any Flex points at all, you’ll need to hold off on the cheese and sour cream. If you have it, substitute 1/4 of a raw avocado instead. You can blend the rest of the avocado with salsa for homemade Flex-free guacamole.

You’ll need a bunch of lettuce, some chopped tomatoes, salsa, a red bell pepper, an onion, low fat ground chicken or turkey, a cup of brown rice, and a can of fat free refried beans. Brown the ground meat with the onion and some Mexican spices. Heat the refried beans in the microwave. In a bowl, lay town the lettuce, 1/4 cup of beans, 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of meat, the tomatoes and peppers, and the salsa. There are a thousand variations on this, ranging from the vegetables you use to the meat seasonings, but the basic idea is to mix an abundance of produce with limited quantities of protein and carbs.

Now, if you have a couple of points to spend, top with 2 tbsp sour cream (2 points), or 2 tbsp shredded cheese (1 point).

The sour cream and salsa will naturally mix together and serve as a kind of dressing for your salad.

The ground meat will give it kick and flavor, and the rice and beans give you both carbs and a complete protein. Since the meat, beans, and rice are all heated, it feels more like an entree and less like an overgrown side salad.

Why I don’t recommend fat-free sour cream or cheese. There are very few fat free sour creams that aren’t made with chemicals that, frankly, you don’t need in your body. I have yet to find a fat free cheese that wasn’t chock full of chemicals or utterly revolting, or both. I know there are organic fat free cheeses out there, but I haven’t found them to be edible. I know there are fat free cheeses out there that don’t suck, but they’re full of sugar (or worse, high fructose corn syrup), or other things that are just bad for you. Budget your Flex points to use them on these full-fat dairy products; it’s worth the points.

Dining Out: When dining out, this meal is easy to recreate. Order a taco salad with chicken meat, and no beans.

If they only have it in a flaky shell, that’s fine, but you have to not eat the shell. If there’s no taco salad, or it’s loaded with things you can’t reasonably eat, look for the tostada (not tostada shell). That’s a corn tortilla with an overgrown salad on top– by the time you reach the tostada, you’re too full to eat it anyway!

Ask for the cheese and sour cream on the side, and extra salsa. Use your spoon to dollop out one spoonful of sour cream or one spoonful of cheese– not both.

It’s ok to have black olives on the taco salad, but not more than 6, so ask the server to “go easy on the olives.”

Ask for avocados instead of guacamole, if they’re available. Avocados are a Core food, while guacamole is not.

Drink water or unsweetened iced tea, or spend your points on a mojito– it’s a refreshing, minty alcoholic drink that only costs 2 points per serving.

Tip: If you find your Mexican meal ended up being too spicy, wash it down with some fat free milk or with sugar (real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup and not artificial sweeteners). Sugars in the milk or just plain sugar help neutralize the spiciness.