This Question of the week is inspired by the long awaited Whole Wheat Pizza Dough! That’s right people, I did it, I finally did it! I sucked it up and threw it out there.
I learned a LONG time ago that I couldn’t stop eating my favorite foods if I was to be successful at losing weight. So I turned to creating or finding healthier, lighter alternatives. For example, I replaced chips with soy crisps, ice cream with frozen yogurt, American cheese with Laughing Cow and now, fast food pizza with my own homemade. Just think of the amount of calories and fat I save. Plus think of the health benefits of less salt, more fiber, whole grains, more veggies and overall just knowing what I’m putting into my body!
So how do you incorporate your favorites? Have you made substitutions? Do you still splurge but eat less? Inquiring minds want to know!
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I LOVE hot wings style foods so I adapted by making it at home. If I make it at home, I can grill the chicken instead of fry it, mix the hot wing sauce w/out so much butter, eat it w/ lower calorie ranch, and eat it with a bunch of veggies instead of the fries.
For the most part, I would rather eat a small amount of a really high quality version of the real thing. For example I’ll eat one small square of 85% dark chocolate when I have a craving for sweets or have a few shavings of full fat parmesan in my salad when I want real cheese. I would rather eat a small portion of a truly decadent dessert once in awhile than a diet dessert every day.
For the most part, I find that my cravings for big indulgences largely go away if I find really delicious, special ways of preparing healthy foods. Creamy yogurt, juicy mangos and strawberries, whole wheat pita bread brushed with olive oil and spices…these are all so delicious and satisfying that I don’t mind saving the really unhealthy stuff for special occasions.
For example, if I was craving for meaty kebab. I count the calories and finally switch to healthy alternatives. Replacing meat kebab to fruity kebab. Simple subtitution and yet extremely tasty
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Hello, just found your blog & so inspiring!! I was a loser, then a gainer, now I want to be a loser again!!
Hmmmm, I have a hard time incorporating my fav’s as I have little control, lol. Out of site out of mind for me. I guess I use healthier preperations, lots of grilling & little to no frying. If I must use ground beef (dh hates ground turkey) I rinse the extra fat out when it is still in the colander.
Don’t have time to answer the question of the week cause I have to go check out that long awaited pizza dough recipe! Go, Roni!!! lol
I totally still indulge! EXCEPT with chips and ice cream, I have NO ability to control myself with those two items.
But, I eat chocolate every day! Light Hot Chocolate, Thinsations (Oreo or Chips Ahoy) and small squares of either milk or dark chocolate are all my standbys.
I satisfy cheese cravings by using an ultra fine cheese shredder and using old or extra old cheese (less volume, lots of flavour!), and for my bread/carb cravings I always have WW bread in the house – a whole sandwich for only 110 calories worth of bread!
I LOVE cheese! I can’t live with out cheese, but more importanly I can’t live without mac and cheese. So now instead of the velveeta kind I get it at the health food store and make with low fat plain yogurt, not with the butter and milk. It gets really creamy and it’s better for you. Sometimes I will eat the velveeta kind but not the whole box like I use to :)
Whole Foods makes something called a “jumble cookie,” which is just as it sounds — a jumble of oats, chocolate chips (white and dark), raisins, nuts… it’s heaven in your hand. And a total fat bomb. So I found a recipe for an instant oatmeal cookie, which is made with just a packet of plain instant oatmeal and a few other ingredients. I merged the two-cookie recipe into one giant cookie, added just enough chips and goodies to approximate the flavors of the jumble, and even though it’s not quite the same, I can at least walk past the cookie case at Whole Foods and tell myself, “you can have one when you get home, AND eat your dinner too.” It works. At least three weeks out of the month :)
I definitely am still struggling with this. Pizza (I know we’ve talked about this before) is still my hardest challenge – so I can’t wait to try the whole wheat pizza crust recipe! Fries are my other big weakness, but I have done well with that by making sweet potato fries. They are so easy and yummy, and for the most part they really satisfy my craving for fries.
Better ‘n Peanut Butter has changed my life. IF you don’t know what it is, it’s a peanut butter substitute – all natural, half the calories, that uses peanut flour. Anyway, I love nut butters, they are one of my trigger foods – but with Better ‘n Peanut Butter, I can have some and since it’s not quite as good as the real thing, not feel the urge to eat a tone of it at once (usually…) it’s nice to feel in control!
Thanks for your efforts…insight…and honesty! I honestly believe that making your own food is the answer. Teaching people how to do it themselves helps us integrate these changes into our lives. For example….I think it is REALLY expensive to go to the store and purchase most of the prepackaged 100 calorie packs etc…Even the flat outs are fairly expensive(That is usually how I make my pizza). Then to top it off…I don’t feel like sharing the health with my family! We can simply create our own 100 calorie packs by baking our own and storing them in the handy dandy zip locks….freeze and viola! Then it is easier to share the health. Suddenly it is part of your life and your families life. Andy you have changed your habits and created healthy habits for your kids. Keep it up Roni.
I just wrote about one of my big comfort foods recently; something my great grandmother used to make for our family… kidney beans and bacon. It’s a depression era dish, just a side of bacon, a few cans of kidney beans, and onion. Nothing spectacular, but I hold it in a special place in my heart, because I loved my great grandmother so much…
I made it just the other day using turkey bacon, and it was almost as good as the regular, and 5 points for 1 cup, which is a good amount of dinner and a good amount of points. Quite happy.
Now, I just need to find a decent Mac and Cheese recipe that’s less than 7 points.
I do a lot of substituting, and your food blog has taught me so much. I do love pizza so we have your version at least once a week – the the light flat out bread, with turkey pepperoni, which I actually prefer now to regular GREASY pepperoni – UGH! We don’t eat a lot of the prepackaged meals – probably just a couple of meals a week when we don’t have the time to make something better. I love a grilled cheese so now we use the 35 calorie bread with low fat cheese and FF spray butter. A month ago, we had a get-together and we had WW lasagna, stuffed baked zucchini (modified to be lower fat), low fat breadsticks, and a WW choc. cake recipe for dessert. You would have never guessed any of it was lower fat – it was fabulous! I can only imagine the amount of fat and calories I HAVEN’T eaten just by modifying recipes and making healthier choices!
And, btw, I can’t wait to try your new pizza crust!!
I love french fries. About twice a week, I slice some potatoes and fry them in 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil. Satisfies my grease craving and still on the Core plan.
Peanut butter and chocolate is my biggest weakness. I used to eat peanut butter straight out of the jar! Now I eat the Recees 100 calorie wafers, Edy’s loaded peanut butter cup (it’s not 1/2 fat, but the NI is about the same for their 1/2 fat varieties), and add PB2 (powdered peanut butter) to my WW chocolate or vanilla smoothies. I also like Better n’ peanut butter. Brownies are another weakness, so I must always have the No Pudge brownie mix on hand. They are great “frosted” with cool whip free and PB2.
The longer you eat healthy, the more the bad cravings go away. At least for some things. While I do have a weakness for fast food, I still allow myself once a week, and fit it into my daily points. I used to eat a TON of chocolate, always had candy bars in the house, and I no longer do that. No pudge brownies, yogurt, skinny cow ice cream sandwiches, and chocolate chips have been my standby’s for my sweet tooth.
now, i LOVE ranch dressing, and hadn’t had it in over four months since starting back on WW. I had a little bit a couple weeks ago, and it was good, but I was amazed at how little I used compared to how much I used to eat.
cheese is another thing that is big for me. Like others have mentioned, I still have cheese almost every day. But now, I use the lowfat versions, and once in a while i will treat myself to a cheese plate of the “real” stuff and share with my husband.
It’s all about moderation. i would be living a miserable life if i cut out all things delicious in my diet.
Oh, yay! I love pizza and I can’t wait to try out this pizza crust. Even if my family doesn’t convert over to the thin crust, if I have something I can make when they order pizza out I’ll take it gladly!
Right now, I’m finding I have a big weakness sitting in my pantry that is KILLING me. Trail mix. I bought a huge bag of it for my son and daughter. I realize that nuts and raisins are healthy, but uh…this is the kind with M&Ms and I KNOW it isn’t healthy. And, yet, I find myself craving the crunch and the chocolate and goign and getting a handful now and then. I’ve moved them to the top shelf…but I wont’ be buying that again for awhile.
I feel bad when my family is deprived of things they love because of my lack of willpower, but that’s just going to be how it is until I can get a handle on it I guess!
Substitutes for me: Laughing Cow, Dannon Light N Fit strawberry yogurt (just tried this–it’s SOooo good!), light popcorn and tonight I made spaghetti squash with my sauce and turkey meatballs and I loved it!
I’m like you – I find substitutions. The whole “have a little of the real thing” thing? It doesn’t work for me. First of all, I want these things TOO OFTEN. Second of all, stopping at a little? Not so easy. It’s easier to find really good substitutions that I enjoy.
Oooooooh, I need to try that pizza crust. Yeast and I, we don’t know each other, but I can give it a shot.
Weighing and measuring what I’m cooking make a huge difference for me — I find I rarely need as much oil to roast my veggies as I was using before weightwatchers and knowing how many points something is gives me motivation to lighten it up (I have a crunchy pea salad recipe I got from wondertime magazine (which is a fab parenting magazine, BTW) which was something like 8+ points per serving as written, and by using light mayo, replacing some of it with yogurt, cutting down on the nuts and subbing in turkey bacon I made an equally good version that’s only 3 points! The final thing I do is portion control. I buy those 100 calorie dark chocolate bars at Trader Joe’s — I know how much I’m eating and I enjoy it. For me, it’s all about cutting down on the mindless eating.