Quote:
Originally Posted by Jane
Now, in planning today's menus, I find I an short on milk/dairy... I will have 2 T of cheese on my noon salad, and 1/2 milk on cereal before bed. I do not like yogurt, and try to avoid puddings with artificial sweeteners. I guess I can just drink a glass of milk, but would like to add something more exciting than that, haha. Any suggestions? I was also short on fruit, but I can easily remedy that.
The milk/dairy exchange is the hardest for me to fit in (and I take a calcium supplement, just in case I don't).
One thing that I've carried over from WW is that I count anything that has at least 20% of the RDA as a dairy exchange. So I actually use sardines to fulfil dairy exchanges. If I already used my dairy for the day, I count them as all protein.
So for 140 calories of sardines, I count as 1 milk and 1 protein exchanges (I eat the bones though. I'm not sure they'd still count if you pick them out). For sardines packed in non-oil marinades, the calories of one can is usually about 140 calories. If they're packed in oil (and drained before eating), it's about 190 calories (1 dairy, 1 protein, 1 fat).
Last night I still had my dairy exchanges left (and didn't want sardines), so I made Nestles's Women's Wellness Hot Cocoa. I made it with 8 ounces of skim milk (instead of the 6 ounces called for). The cocoa itself has 80 calories (and a whopping 35% RDA of calcium), so with the milk it came to 170 calories and a total of 55% RDA of calcium.
I'm not a huge fan of hot cocoa either, but it satisfied my TOM chocolate craving (except for TOM, I'm not much of a chocolate fan).
I think tonight I'm going to do the cocoa again, but will add a little cherry or raspberry flavoring.
Some cheeses can count as dairy exchanges (using the 20+% guideline). So I'll count 80 to 90 calories of cheese as a dairy (for hard cheeses like swiss, usually about an ounce to an ounce and a half).