Anyone hungary? salads
 

Okay been on IP for a full three weeks today. Had trouble eating the first week, but appetite has returned. I have been weighing my meat after cooking so I have been eating too much. With that said...I am hungary in the afternoon and eat every last bit of dinner. After dinner, I have to force the bedtime snack...I am not hungary then. My worse time of day is between lunch and dinner. I have not been eating the salad because the plain lettuce is making me gag after 2.5 weeks. what does everyone do? Do you use dressings from WF? I am down 17 pounds so I am highly motivated....never have even thought of cheating or eating a restricted item (except the soy nuts as my emergency food). I drink 36 ounces of water with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Darbs I have tried the WF thousand island dressing and it was good but I have found that I like to have my salad with olive oil, apple cider vinegar and a little garlic powder. For me that tastes better than the dressings. But by all means give the WF dressings a try and you decide what tastes good to you. In any case make sure that you eat your lettuce because it is important to your weight loss. I hope this helps. :)

I use a tsp of olive oil, a tsp of white vinegar, sea salt and Mrs. Dash Table Blend on my salads, and I am loving them! I actually look forward to them. By the way, I use romaine lettuce which has more nutrients and is more flavorful than iceberg.

I use this dressing recipe that I found here in the Recipe2 thread, I think it was posted by Soon2B. It is yummy. But I am going to buy and try the WF Ranch this week.

Salad Dressing to DIE for:

2 tsp olive oil
Juice of 1/2 of a small lemon
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
Stevia to taste (I used about a fourth of the packet)
Sea salt and pepper to taste

I tried the roasted veggies last night and they were great too.

The last few days I've been eating my salad (oil/vinegar dressing) more like finger food and just picking at it for awhile. It's silly, but it feels better than shoving the lettuce in my mouth with a fork and with some crisp romaine it's kind of like a munchy.

Also, you mentioned you are drinking your water split out over 3 meals. Have you tried drinking additional water throughout the afternoon? That water helps fill us up too.

I was havingthe same problems with salads, so I switched to shredded iceberg lettuce with a few chopped jalapenos, a few chopped banana peppers, EVOO , salt and black pepper...it kinda remeinds me of a Subway Salad...I think its yummy and it has helped me get my lettuce in when I didn't think I was gonna be able to gag another leaf down ;)

I like to mix up my salads.....I do Iceburg, Romaine, Spinach, and Spring Mix. That way each bite has something different to it.

As for dressings....WF=less is more. I really don't use it much unless during supper and I am using it within a recipe. I am really loving 2 dressings right now. I love EVOO and fresh squeezed lemon juice. OR my current fav is mustard, stevia, EVOO. (Honey mustard!!!!)

you might try other types of lettuce or spinach.
you could also try cooking any kind of greens you like. i think kale and other greens are in season right now too. or try a beans and greens soup like minestrone. it doesnt have to be boring.
rachael ray has a million salad and homemade dressing recipes.

Thanks for the ideas. As for lettuce...I haven't had iceberg in decades. I am a romaine all the time girl. I drink my lunch water throughout the afternoon as I teach and then as I drive home from school/work (teacher). I think I will try the recipes. I was eating it with banana peppers, but stopped because the less than one carb brand I was getting dissappeared. I was eating it plain with a spray of olive oil. Thanks girls

WATER - IP protocol states that you should be drinking a MINIMUM of 64 ounces of water per day. As suggested above, increasing your water intake throughout the day (particularly when you feel hungry) is necessary and should help tide you over between meals.

LETTUCE - Lettuce doesn't have to equal salad. I often use romaine lettuce leaves as soft tortillas and make wraps with meat and veggies.

DRESSINGS - I really don't like any of the WF dressings except the ranch and don't really have alot of free time to make my own. I spent an afternoon in the salad dressing section of several area grocery stores and found some store-brand dressings made with all natural ingredients (e.g. EVOO, vinegar, garlic and other spices) that are IP-friendly and now use those for the most part. (For those in Ontario, Canada, I'm referring to the Farm Boy Lemon Garlic and Greek dressings...so good...use them on salads and to marinate meat.)

It should be noted that IP does not consider spinach as a lettuce; therefore, it is not unlimited. Spinach is an unrestricted vegetable to be counted as part of your 4 cups of veggies per day. My salads usually consist of 1-2 cups romaine lettuce, 1 cup cucumbers, ½ cup spinach, ½ cup broccoli slaw (minus the carrots), 5oz chicken and a handful of roasted soy nuts for some crunch.

Hey there! Just want to respond to a few things in your post.

First, regarding the afternoon hunger and not wanting the snack at bedtime. You can try having the snack in the afternoon when you are most hungry, then eating your dinner a bit later. It should not effect you and may give you more of what you need at the right time. I know that others have done this with good success and, on Dr Tran's website he prefers the snack in the late evening but allows it as a mid afternoon option too.

As for the salads, I never have had just plain romaine lettuce. I often mix up my lettuces but, I ALWAYS have a few added veggies. I plan about 1/2 cup of mixed veggies from my 2 cup veggie allotment (at a minimum) to be part of my salad. I have added grilled veggies (asparagus, mushroom, zucchini, tomato, green or red peppers). I have also added raw onion, broccoli, cauliflower, radish, cucumber, bean sprouts, soy beans, mushroom, tomato, alfalfa, water cress, and so many others. I have had asian salads, taco salads, greek salads, and grilled chicken and veggie salads. I rarely eat just plain lettuce because, I was gagging too and it isn't necessary.

For dressing, I make my own. I use any vinegar that is all zero.. including red wine vinegar that is all zero carb, fat, cal. I have made: lemon thyme dressing, fajita lime, caesar, raspberry chipotle vinaigrette, italian, ranch herb vinaigrette, cilantro lime, greek, cumin lime, garlic ginger lemon, just ginger, lemon dill, sesame ginger, sesame ****ake, sweet and sour, and good old oil and vinegar.

I use WF for my to go packets and I only like the Italian. It works well to add extra lemon and oil to with salt and pepper at a restaurant. I also have a very tightly sealing bottle, about a 3 tbsp quantity, that I take dressing with me when I want something different. I usually keep the bottle in a ziploc to avoid spills in my handbag. The only thing I use walden farms for is a base. I sometimes start with it and doctor the flavor up if I want a thicker or creamier dressing. I also use the bbq as a base and the honey dijon as a marinade base.

I have found Maple Grove farms or Annies Nautals have some wonderful dressings that are less than 1 carb per 2tbsp. As a rare treat I will use them too.

Like Christina mentions, lettuce doesn't have to be lettuce salad. You can do all her suggestions and still get lettuce in. ALSO, When I want a sandwich I build it on lettuce leaf. When I want a burger I use iceberg lettuce on each side. (I also use grilled portobello mushroom heads as buns or thick sliced grilled eggplant as slices of bread but, that is a separate topic!)

I hope you find what works for you to get over this hump. :hug:

I'm no expert but I'd make two small adjustments. One, don't drink all your water at meals -- space it out over the day. An two, do what lots of people in your situation do -- have your evening snack when you get hungry, in the afternoon.

No need to eat the salad plain. Use 9 grams of olive oil and as much cider vinegar as you like, salt and ground pepper. Or Walden Farms. Or go to the recipe stickies, both of them, and find oodles of recipes for salad dressing.

I just learned this the other day: the outer leaves of romaine have more nutrients than the inner leaves. So now I adjust accordingly (or just eat the whole head). This has implications for people who buy only "hearts of romaine" lettuce.

Raspberry Vinegerette Dressing
 

I make a salad dressing using WF Raspberry Fruit Spread, olive oil and white vinegar, it is delicious!

4 tbsp WF Raspberry Fruit spread
4 oz olive oil..I use the light olive oil
2 tbps white vinegar

I have a electric hand blender that I use the blend the ingredients in order given and keep it in a jar on my cupboard.

I bought the ranch WF dressing and it is still sitting in my fridge, full bottle minus a bit.. I thought it was gross. I tried making my own salad dressing from a recipe I found online, but now all I do is put my two spoons of olive oil on my salad and squeeze a whole lemon onto my salad... it is now my favorite meal. I add a bit of sea salt as well, cut up my chicken, plop it on top and MMMM!!:love: