Maryann - I know it's been a while since you posted, but in my experience I have found it helpful, albeit a little antisocial, to eat my meal before cooking or serving the family meal. That way, I am already mostly satisfied so I tend to nibble or outright overconsume on foods I shouldn't be having. It's tough, but once you get past those 9 days, you can start sharing in the glory that is *somewhat* normal foods again.
My best strategy is when you go grocery shopping, make some time to portion out your goodies. You may end up taking over the majority of the fridge with your containers and ziplock bags, but it will make life sooo much more tolerable for you. Here are some examples that I use:
1. I am into this vegetarian Phase One approved chili, so I make a large crockpot of it and store it in tupperware containers. Sometimes, if I am extra crafty I will make some cabbage soup too. The chili is far more filling, but the soup adds a little variety.
2. I like to have seedless grapes for snacks. I get a big bag of them, pick them and wash them... then portion them out into the little snack size ziplock bags for easy grab-and-go. What is also good, not sure if your grocery store carries these, but in the produce section they have bags of single serving sliced apples. They come in their own fancy little baggies and don't brown up fast like regular cut apples. I also do ziplock bags of baby carrots and celery. They are fabulous with a little hummus! And hummus gives you some protein so it is a great fill-me-up snack.
3. I tend to rearrange the fridge to promote better choices. I find that if I put healthy foods on the lower shelves of the fridge, I don't take the time to let my eyes wander down there when I am hungry. I stop at the kids stuff on the top shelf. So, I put the majority of my FS stash on the top shelves so they are the first thing I see, and encourage me to make better choices. I will keep my produce in the drawers, but move those little single serving bags up a few at a time when I run out. It also helps that my kids are small and short, so they dont mind the lower shelf LOL
4. I buy the 10 minute brown rice bags and cook those instead of using the 20+ minute brown rice. I also add sodium free chicken or beef bouillion to the water and it makes such a HUGE difference in the taste. I will cook one bag, have half with one meal and save the rest for a fabulous stir fry later on.
5. Yes, beans are important... but don't forget salads! The first time I went through FS I was eating primarily chili and soups and rice. Salad is a great meal. If you have a good size salad with a small serving of chili, soup, or whatever you pick... you will get a better feeling when you walk away from the table. Salad dressings are kind of tricky sometimes - you have to watch sugar count. I like the salad spritzers... but I do admit they lack in dressing flavor. This is one small cheat I afford myself sometimes... but in extremely limited quantities. I find if I put a few drops of dressing on my salad and then cut it all up, it mixes the flavor better. I hate vinagrette or lemon juice or whatever other funky dressing people use in diets... so I make this small exception.
For little tips, I find those most helpful. I hope that you are still around on the forum and find my post. Good luck!
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