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South Beach WHAT?
Jan 06, 2009 Categorized: News •
My list of New Year’s Resolutions, er, um, goals, does not include dieting. I plan to blog about that list at some point in time, once I fully have my mind made up about them. I figure, hey! Wait to see which ones you can keep, and call ‘em then! But anyway, the “d” word. Bill came home yesterday talking about his friend who is on the South Beach Diet. I could tell he was pretty determined to do it, and I realized that meant I, likewise, would be doing it with him. I am, after all, the one who prepares his meals. I can’t fix healthy stuff for him and eat the same old junk myself.
I don’t really need to lose weight. In fact, when I stepped on the scale today, my first day of dieting, I realized I had miraculously lost 5 pounds over Christmas rather than having gained weight. I’ve kind of lost my appetite for sweets (as long as I don’t have cookies or cake around), and I stopped eating late at night. I’ve been too busy sewing, I guess. I’m working on a new dress for Hunter, which I can’t wait to blog about. But I digress.
So the weight. I could afford to lose five more pounds, and then I would be at my favorite weight. Any more and I’ll be having to sew myself some clothes. To me, five pounds is not reason enough to begin the South Beach Diet. Which, by the way, I have never even considered exploring. But I figure I have nothing to lose, besides unwanted fat from my thighs and middle. I certainly don’t have the motivation to eat right unless I’m doing it for someone else, so why not? The times I have had to alter my diet for whatever reason, I have had very quick and drastic results, and it always makes me feel better. I don’t have any specific eating problems or anything, but I do lack the discipline to eat heart-healthy foods. I get stuck in a rut with my menus and my family just eats the same boring stuff over and over. Having to prepare only healthy food is a great thing for our whole family, and it’s getting me out of that yucky eat-what’s-convenient lifestyle and into a more disciplined approach to eating.
Despite my growing excitement over this “d” thing though, (I’m having a hard time saying I’m dieting...it’s not really like that...except that it is), I had a REALLY hard time making my menu for the week without fruit, pasta, some veggies, sugar, or any other carbs. But once I got to looking at some recipes, I realized that it is not a total departure from our type of eating anyway. It’s just without the carbs. Carbs are my favorite food group, so this will prove to be challenging. They’re also the easiest foods to grab when you don’t feel like preparing something or don’t have time. No more of that.
Our meal tonight was blackened salmon, black beans, and sauteed mushrooms. Delish! It was a completely normal meal for us--one of our twice-a-month kind of deals. Except that I had to leave the potatoes out of the mushrooms, and not eat wheat rolls and fruit with the kids. And normally I probably would have had yellow rice too. The problem was, we both wanted to eat ALL of the food. We’ve been hungry all day since we started right away without having done the grocery run first. Although I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, I’m used to a whole bagel, which fills me up until after lunch. And I usually eat lunch because of the clock, and not because of hunger. That’s kind of a bad way to do it, so this will be a good thing after all, even though the “d” word gives me the heebie jeebies.
I also had to buy a food processor today. I’ve been wanting one for years so I could make Sneaky Chef recipes to get healthy foods in the kids’ diets, but I’ve never broken down and spent the money. But if I’m going to eat broccoli, it has to have something yummy on it. I tried out a White Bean Dip for my first recipe in it tonight, and it is so delicious--very addicting. Needs a little salt, but I think if I put the olives with it like the recipe calls for, it will be perfect. I just don’t care for olives.
My fridge has more produce in it than I have ever seen. It also has more meat, since that has to replace the breads for two weeks. Thank goodness this phase only lasts that long! After that, we’ll be getting back to more normal eating, just without the laziness.
What I’m hoping for the most (besides my husband’s success in losing his few pounds), is that getting lean and mean will make me want to get serious about toning muscle. I’m feeling pretty lazy in the workout area lately, and I have zero motivation to get up and go exercise. I bought a Stay Ball recently to get my body back in shape, and I’m sorry to say I spend more time sidestepping it in the bedroom than I do using it for it’s intended purpose.
So now that the whole world knows about my big “d”, I’ll have to lay all my resolutions out on the line too. I’ll get to that soon.
Hollabacks
The White Bean Dip recipe sounds yum...can I get the recipe?
Posted by Kim on 01/07 at 07:10 PM
@Kim: Here is a link to the recipe. http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/recipes/white_bean_dip.html
This is not an official South Beach Diet website, so take the advice with a grain of salt. But there are some good recipes. The White Bean Dip is a little bit lacking, though, despite the fact that I like it. Maybe you could figure out what it needs. Salt, maybe?
Posted by heatherkate on 01/07 at 10:23 PM