Moving to P2
 

I'll be starting phase 2 on Tuesday and am a little nervous about it. I've already decided I will not be adding bread as my grain...even whole wheat bread is a trigger for me to over eat (too easy to nosh on toast, pb sandwiches, etc when I don't need to!) Over the course of P1 I've realized that I'm no longer experiencing the constant need to munch throughout the evening. I pretty much finish dinner and that's it for the night; if I do feel hungry I'll snack on a small bowl of snap peas or some lunch meat. I'll admit that I'm a little scared that adding back grains & fruits is going to take me back to feeling like I want to snack all evening (I think grains were more of the cause than fruit).

My plan for week 1 is to add in quinoa with lunch every day (Mon-Fri) and add a fruit either as an afternoon snack or as dessert, depending which one I'm hungry for. The recipe I plan to make is Quinoa Greek salad from Food.com:

Cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups chicken stock. Once it's cooked & cooled, add in a 1/2 cup each of red & green pepper, diced, 1/2 cup of diced cucumber, 1/4 cup of black olives, 1/4 cup red onion, diced, and 3 oz reduced fat feta. Toss with dressing (1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp oregano, salt & pepper).

I've been making this for a long time and it's one of my favourite lunches because it keeps well in the fridge over the week and is delicious & filling. I also add a can of chickpeas to the whole recipe to up the fiber content. Do you ladies think that's a good start to re-introduce grains?? As for the fruit, I'm thinking I'll either try a small apple with a teeny bit of pb in the afternoon (for some reason when I eat apples on their own, they make me nauseous) or perhaps some cherries or raspberries.

Breakfasts and dinners will still be what I've been eating in P1, with the exception of Tuesday night when I'll be on my own for dinner and was thinking of heating up some Highliner tilapia we have in the freezer (hubby doesn't like it so it's on me to eat it, lol). The fish is lightly breaded ("Pan sear selects" lime chili tilapia) - do you think that will matter for that one day since I'll also be having the quinoa salad at lunch? (nutritional stats for 1 pc of fish are 260 cals, 13 g fat, 13 g carbs, 1 g sugar, 23 g protein).

In general, do you ladies think this is a pretty solid plan to start off phase 2? The last time I tried SBD I totally fell off the wagon in P2 because I basically went back to my old way of eating right away. It was still relatively healthy because I've always preferred whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc, but I jumped right back into having cereal for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch and rice with dinner....totally not what I want to do this time (hence the planning!). Thanks for any input, chicks ;)

Hey Jen that sounds delicious!! I too missed fruit more than grains and introduced them slowly. I love my morning cereal, I've been reading labels like crazy lately and discovered Special K makes a protein plus cereal (10 grams protein 5 grams fiber per serving). Spaghetti squash is a really good alternative for pasta. It is smart to have the PB or even low fat cheese with an apple. If you don't like something, please don't force yourself to eat it...I did with eggs lol, but doctored them up with turkey and salsa. I really do not know about the fish, maybe one of the chicks will chime in

Thanks, Jennifer! We're actually heading over to Niagara Falls, NY today so I'll have to take a look for that Special K since I'm pretty sure I've never seen it here in Ontario. I actually enjoy eggs for breakfast, especially the convenience of just grabbing a hard boiled egg on the run, but I do like cereal for a change now and again. I've tried spaghetti squash as a substitute for pasta before and it's really good, especially if you're a volume person cuz you can eat so much of it for so few calories!

Everyone is different with this and finds they react differently when adding back foods. Some of us find certain foods are triggers and some of us find that we can eat things at certain times of day but not others without causing cravings or overeating.

For me personally, I tend to do better with my PH2 foods later in the day, not for breakfast. I have pretty much given up grains entirely on a regular basis; too many would lead me to overeat and crave and I really don't miss them at all anymore. I will occasionally have them, but not daily. I don't keep bread in the house at all. Or crackers.

I'd suggest you just take it slowly and if you find anything sets of cravings, cut it out or try it at a different time.

Wow - that salad sounds delicious. Right up my alley in the flavor department! It was funny - when I moved to P2, I was looking forward to my morning oatmeal. I had it, and felt really shaky after. It was weird. I've scaled back to yogurt with blueberries and Flax seed as my breakfast. I'm staying away from wheat - I seem to feel better without it.

Karen - I'm thinking my P2 additions will come at lunchtime or later in the day as well. My P1 breakfast on weekday mornings has been 1 hard boiled egg, 1 hb egg white, 2 pieces turkey or chicken bacon, a glass of V8, a glass of skim milk, and a coffee. That keeps me full from 8 a.m. until just after noon. My lunch break is at 12:30 so it works perfectly; I figure why mess with it! I think on week 2 or 3 I'll probably try adding in pitas at lunch and see how that feels. That'll still allow me to have a sandwichy type item without having to buy bread. Like you said, it will be a game of trial and error to see what affects me. I was going to buy some cherries to add in as my first fruist but you know, I love them so much, I can't see myself stopping at 12, which is what the book says is a serving. 12 is a warmup, lol...I could eat cherries all day. I'll probably start with some kind of berry and go from there.

Cat, the salad really is delicious - very filling as is and even moreso with added chickpeas or other beans. It keeps nicely in the fridge too, so it's a perfect lunch to mix up on Sunday evening and take to work all week :)

Jen - the quinoa is finishing up - and I'm going to start chopping now!

I hope you love it! I made a batch tonight, too - I'm really looking forward to lunch tomorrow:dizzy: (and even moreso looking forward to enjoying some raspberries after dinner tomorrow night! I've missed fruit so much!)

Sounds good. I never had Quinoa. What is it like? I tried Jimica the other day and was not happy with it. I like my potatoes soft so when I made "hash browns" using the Jimica... YUCK! It was crunchy :/

I find that quinoa doesn't really have much flavour on its own, so I usually cook it in chicken or vegetable broth to help with that (2 cups liquid to 1 cup dry quinoa). Texture wise I guess it's kindof like couscous...soft little grains. You can probably find it at a bulk food store if you just want to try a little bit, though it's only $3-4 for a box at the grocery store (the brand I buy is called Casbah).

Thank you Jen. I printed the recipe and will try it maybe next week, since this week's menu is set LOL