I'm only on Day 3 and feeling okay -- except for a slight headache, but the biggest issue is what to eat. This seems to require a lot of planning as far as food goes...I have to run to the book and check to see if what I'm about to eat is okay. So far, here's what I've been eating:

Breakfast...V8 Juice, 2 scrambled eggs, coffee
Snack...Celery and peanut butter
Dinner...Canned tuna fish/mayo and tomato, no-sugar fudge pop
Lots of water and herbal decaf teas
(Yes, the same menu every day so far...

I just picked up the new recipe book but don't have a lot of time to prepare new recipes that I make just for myself. I have a DH and 3 kids to feed -- wonder if any of you have tried and true recipes from the book the whole family will like...

Also, it's very snowy here today and I wanted to make chili con carne tonight (ground beef, onion, tomato sauce, kidney beans,spices). Is that approved on Phase 1?

Any other suggestions re food during the day...especially lunch is greatly appreciated.

Thanks all...Grace

Heya Grace, howdy!

Check out the recipe boards for the SBD here on 3FC. They have suggestions for great things to eat that you can make ahead for breakfast and lunch and then just take with you. They have recipes for snacks. They have recipes for dinners that the whole family will love, and if the fam is cranky about having a low-carb supper, serve thiers with a piece of bread. That's what I do with my DH - it's very much "I made THIS for dinner, and if you want something else, feel free to get it yourself." Works for us.

Try rotating dips for your celery when snacking. I do different flavors of hummus, and rotate with a lowfat sour cream ranch dip that I make with a packet and lowfat sour cream. Also, you can have a small handful of nuts as a snack if you want. Don't be afraid to try a smaller portion of the lunch and breakfast recipes as a snack! That's some of my favorites.

I'm very afraid of getting bored with eating, since it's one of my chief pleasures in life, so I'm right there with you. Just try to give yourself room to experiment, and maybe make up a batch of something on the weekend to get you through the next week.

Good luck!
Solarmama

I don't see your lunch and afternoon snack listed. You should be eating every three hours to keep your glucose level even. Looks like you could use more vegetables too.

Chili con carne should be fine as long as none of the spices have sugar added. Some chili seasoning mixes have sugar added but you'll be fine with your own spices. Also, if you are not using very lean ground beef then you should drain and even rinse the ground beef to remove the fat.

I normally eat leftovers for lunch. I especially love to reheat leftover chili and soups. Look through the recipe section here. There are lots of good ideas. Oh, there is a Chinese 5 spice chicken recipe in the cookbook that is really good and fast since it cooks in the microwave. It is listed as phase 2 since they add cornstarch after cooking the chicken to thicken the sauce but would be wonderful without the cornstarch. I make sure that the portion that is for my 7 year old doesn't have any ginger on it and then he eats it just fine.

Taco Bake is also wonderful. I think I got it from the recipe forum here. During phase 1, I served it on regular tortillas for my son and lettuce for me. Then I switched to whole wheat tortillas in phase 2.

In phase 1, I often made dishes the whole family would eat (such as jambalaya or shrimp creole). Then I would put mine on shredded cabbage and serve the rest of the family's on rice. Uncle Ben's converted is one of the rices allowed for phase 2.

One other thing that I do that really helps is to eat a lot of vegetables. I will fix one that I know my son will eat and then one that I don't expect him to. I serve him a little of each and he has gradually started to eat more vegetables. When I grill fish (which he won't eat), I fix oven fried popcorn shrimp for him. The rest of the meal we all eat.

Hope this helps. I know there are other recipes that we eat from the cookbook but many of ours are phase 2 and I don't have my book here at work.

Thanks, Solarmama...Just checked out the recipes on the board...some look very, very good -- like that Taco Bake I just need to get organized and prepare in advance. But, honestly, I'm already looking forward to Phase 2

Thanks for your words of encouragement...

Thanks, Barbara...that's good advice... Just alter what I'm eating slightly instead of making separate dishes...

Also, I've been snacking on pistachio nuts. I do not feel hungry at all, which is great. And now that I can make chili tonight, I'm really happy!

Hi, Grace!

First of all, dinner tonight. It all sounds fine with two exceptions. Use very low fat ground beef...at least 95% fat free, okay? Also, use Hunt's tomato sauce or make your own with Splenda. There may be other tomato sauces out there with no sugar, but I haven't heard of any specific brands other than Hunt's. Check the labels...you don't want anything that ends in "-ose" (like dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, etc.).

Serve the chili con carne with a veggie on the side to complement it and add to your veggie intake. A salad is fine as long as you load up on nutrient rich veggies like tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. A salad of iceberg lettuce and tomatoes doesn't provide much nutrient value.


For your daily diet, there are tons of choices! Just follow the foods to avoid list and you can't go far wrong! Here are some options for each meal:

Breakfast:

• Variety of eggs (see cookbook and main book for ideas)
• cottage cheese with cucumbers and tomatoes, smoothie (lots of variations...see recipe forum for more like this:http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34818 I make mine with fat free plain yogurt, protein powder, 2 Tbsp ground flax seed, SF syrup, and fat free milk, in Phase 2 I add frozen, unsweetened fruit)
• yogurt with SF jam, cinnamon, and ground flax seed
• veggie burger with cheese (in Phase 2, I love Morningstar's Tomato Basil burgers)
• some cheese (reduced fat...no more than 6g fat per serving) and veggies, like red bell pepper with hummus or celery sticks with Laughing Cow Light, etc.
• Three (or four) bean salad (try this one: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45528)

Lunch:

• Number one best lunch is leftovers from the night before!
• Chef's salad: baby spinach or spring mix with tomatoes, two kinds of deli meat (no sugar, low fat like roasted turkey or sugar-free kinds of lean ham), shredded red-fat cheese, sliced hard-boiled egg, other veggies, also roasted soy nuts (instead of croutons), 2 Tbsp. of dressing with less than 3g sugar and healthy oils (nothing hydrogenated)
• A piece of lean meat (from the night before?) and a side dish--try this: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42460 or this: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45528, I also like some Vegetarian refried beans with a little garlic powder and Lawry's seasoning salt, heated and served with red fat cheese and maybe some salsa.
• Soup--both my grocery's store's brand and Progresso make a great lentil soup that is SBD friendly. When you have time, read labels to see what else is SBD friendly. You can also make your own... l love the White Chili http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...ht=white+chili and the Broccoli Cheese soup (make it with arrowroot instead of WW flour to make it Phase 1 friendly): http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?p=733235

Snacks:

• sliced red bell pepper with hummus (love this with roasted red pepper hummus)
• celery with light laughing cow cheese wedge or 2 Tbsp natural PB
• nuts: 15 almonds or cashews, 20 peanuts, or 30 pistachios, or a handful of roasted soy nuts
• part-skim milk cheese stick (string cheese) with veggies of choice (perhaps dipped in dressing or yogurt dip?)
• 3 bean salad (this works for every meal! )
• FF plain yogurt with splenda or SF syrup (or SF jam in Phase 2), flaxseeds and cinnamon
• roasted cauliflower (see recipe forum for popcorn cauli recipe)
• On phase 2, incorporate fruit...an orange, kiwi, or other small fruit with a cheese stick makes a great snack, so does an apple or small banana with PB, or a pear with laughing cow light. Yummm!

Dinner:

• Lots and lots of choices! Check out the entrees in the recipe forum--your kids are very likely to eat the zucchini patties...serve with a lean meat that they like! Here are some options: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36491 http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41188 http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41188 http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...066#post744066 and of course, the infamous Taco Bake: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...ight=taco+bake
• Try spaghetti squash with red sauce...heat Hunt's Tomato sauce with onions, more tomatoes, spices,and lean ground beef, serve over ww spaghetti for family and those on Phase 1, over spaghetti squash for you.
• Check out recipes at www.cookinglight.com for ideas...very easy to make SBD!
• Use unique spices, like Chinese Five Spice or Mojo marinade (made by Goya, also available at Trader Joe's) with chicken breasts to make them simple and quick...add a couple veggie side dishes and some potatoes for the fam and you have a great dinner!

Dessert:
You know that you shouldn't have more than 75 calories from non-nutritive sweets each day. Within that amount, try:

• No Sugar Added (NSA) Fudgesicles
• NSA Creamsicles
• SF Popsicles
• Peanut Butter Cup: melt a NSA fudgesicle slightly (13 secs in micro), pull off stick and compbine with 2 Tbsp of Natural PB and 2 Tbsp of Cool Whip Free (or Heavy Cream whipped with Splenda)
• SF pudding (in Phase 2 and beyond), either made by hand with mix or Cozy Shack or Jell-O SF kinds
• SF Jell-O (comes in self serving cups or make by hand from mix), possibly with Cool Whip Free?
• Mix Ricotta or cottage cheese with a SF Jell-O
• Check forum for even more exciting ideas!

I hope this helps...I know you'll find lots of great things to try in the recipe forum. But don't let yourself get bored! Try to eat at least 2 1/2 cups of veggies each day, at least 2 palm sized portions of lean protein each day, 3 servings of milk or yogurt each day, and lots of variety. You can do this!

Sorry for the repeats on advice, guys...took me so long to write that post that our wonderful people jumped in with most of it on their own!

Thanks Barb and Solar for your great advice!!!

Beachgal, thank you very, very much for the detailed list. This really helps

Northrancher -

Hang in there! You'll get the hang of this. Everyone's advice so far is super! I'll just let you know what I eat and how I survive.

Breakfast I usually have:

Overnight Slaw (gets your veggies in and kicks the sweet tooth in the butt)
1 mini quiche cup - I used to eat two but now I only have one.
1 protein shake (you can make your own, there are recipes in the forum)

AM snack

usually have 1 mozz cheese stick and a small V8

Lunch

Usually roast chicken from the deli and a BIG salad
Or just a big salad with ham or turkey or tuna or;
Seven layer salad with splenda

PM Snack

Usually skip this but sometimes I have another mozz stick or another V8 or a turkey deli stick from Old Wisconsin. Or if I have the time to get celery sticks my favorite is laughing cow light cheese wedge with celery sticks.

Dinner

Usually bounce between

Taco Salad with sour cream and fresh salsa or;
Roast Chicken with salad or;
Chili and salad or;
Low carb soup and a salad or;
Pork sirloins with spagetti sauce over the top and parmesean & salad
Or whatever meat is being served for dinner with a salad.

Dessert

Low fat ricotta with cocoa powder, splenda, peanuts and mini choc chips or;
Low fat ricotta with cinnimon and splenda

Is only has to be as fancy as you want to make it. I'm too tired to go through all the fancy meals in the books. I would love to have a cook someday who just makes SBD friendly foods for me. Tonight DS had manwiches and chips and I had taco salad. Once a week I try to make something new from the cookbook and freeze the rest into individual meals to have throughout the week.

Good Luck!

PS - None of us want to re-do phase I - that is why this diet is so successful the secret is out! Nobody wants to go back to phase I. If my weight isn't down tomorrow am, I'm afraid (really) that I may have to do Phase I for a couple of days. Make sure you check in daily for motivation and support.

Amy, this gives me a good idea of a typical day's menus. Thank you for sharing. I'm already adding a few of your selections to my menu for tomorrow.

I made the mistake today of not eating lunch -- I got too busy and forgot. So, tonight, 2 hours after dinner, I was ravenous and had a sweet craving. I had a NS jello cup with whipped creme (this is a no-no on SBD?) on it and some herbal tea. I can see why this takes awhile to master...I hate "thinking" about what to eat and loathe veggies except tomatoes.

How often should I weigh myself in Phase 1? And, I can see why noone wants to go back to this phase. Yikes! I want to eat healthy but "normal"

If we lived closer we could hire a SBD chef and share. What a luxury that would be

Everyone that was great information, for a newbie like me. You guys seem to really know your stuff.

So, V8 juice is OKAY to have in Phase 1? I wasn't sure or not!!!

V8 juice is a good way to get your vegetables for the morning. You might try the reduced sodium V8 since the salt content is pretty high in regular V8.

V8 is good on Phase 1.

I gotta tell you, I've found the recipes on this site to be much better than in the ones in the SB book - more realistic for us everyday folks, if that makes sense. A few of my favorites are the taco bake, the cheese stuffed beef rolls, the fireside white bean soup, and the stuffed pork chops. I also make alot of chile, salmon, lean cut roasts and steaks, and of course chicken breasts made one way or another. Another easy thing is to make a huge salad with chicken, cheese, sliced nuts, on it.

Oh, and I gotta tell you that your daily menu does look pretty boring, lol. Especially your dinner - I would be bored and very hungry. I don't think that you're eating enough or getting enough variety. The key is to stay satisfied with both the amount that your eating and the foods themselves. If you're not satisfied then you won't stay on the plan.