So what are we munching today?

Breakfast:
1/2 banana cocnut sf/ff yogurt
decaf w/lite cream (2)

Lunch:
roasted chicken (thigh)
medium baked sweet potato
6 brussels sprouts
banana

Snack:
grapes
another yogurt if hungry??

Dinner:
not sure - have some lean ground beef in fridge
Maybe hamburgers or meatballs (whatever is faster!)
couscous or kasha
cauliflower/brocolli

Later:
decaf w/cream (2)
popcorn if required!

Had my coke on the way to work, when oh when oh WHEN will I break that nasty habit? Anyway ...

Breakfast:
Egg quiche muffin, canadian bacon and milk

Lunch:
95% lean hamburger patty with slice of FF cheese melted on top, ketchup
Steamed broccoli
Little bowl of diced tomatoes

Snack:
Banana

Dinner:
Baked potato with teeny bit of olive oil, FF cheese and sour cream
Salad with Kraft Free 1000 Island dressing
Milk

Total calories for the day: 1393

b: oatmeal with applesauce and pumpkin (strange recipe)
l: green salad w/turkey ham and some full fat ranch dressing (using WPAs) and milk
s: popcorn?
d: pork chops with sauteed apples & sauerkraut, peas, milk

Angela

Since this is my first "official" Core eating day, please be brutal and critique my menu to death, okay?

B: 1/2 egg beaters, ham steak, 12 ou. diet V8 Splash
S: 1/2 cup pineapple
L: Subway roasted chicken salad with FF ranch dressing (points for chicken in salad)
S: 1 cup FF plain yogurt with SF jello powder mixed in
D: Romaine salad with 1 TB slivered almonds (points)
Stew with carrots, okra, and potato
Couscous (or brown rice, if I don't feel like gnawing on my pebbles )
S: FF/SF pudding with strawberries

My stomach is growling now so I'm going to have the yogurt. I've had 32 ounces of water so far and will try to get 32 more ounces before I call it a day.

Does this sound okay? Any glaring no-no's that I've overlooked?

Thanks for any suggestions and insight!

Deborah

ok, how in the world can you eat okra and tell about it.........blahhhhhhh, just kidding, more power to you!

my leader has told us that juice is wasted calories and points so you may as well have the fruit or veggie......does the diet count as core?? i only drink water, coffee and tea ..... sometimes hot chocolate and maybe 2 times a month pop.........

my menu:

b: oatmeal with applesauce, 2 coffees, sweetener, milk
L: ff cottage cheese, sliced gr. red, yellow peppers and carrots, sf jello
S: ss/ff pudding, all-bran bar (points)
Supper: probably a huge veggie/ff cheese omelet and a lettuce salad
S: if I need a snack.......popcorn.......trying to forget about the snacking at night for this week

oh, i forgot, my son picked up some Indian River oranges off the truck today so I will have one of those with supper!

Actually, Frannie, fried okra is scrumptious ... it's a wonderful southern mainstay! But the plain, unbreaded okra isn't too bad in soups or stews ... doesn't get really slimy that way. I'm grossing myself out now! The Diet V8 Splash is listed as Core on the website ... it has a little nutritional value, I think. I think of it as 15 calories worth of flavored water!

I feel like such a pig when I look at all of your menus. You girls hardly eat anything!! I would be starving if that's all I ate. Can I hope that in the not too distant future my appetite will moderate and I'll be satisfied with something similar to the menus you all are posting here?

Deborah

I looooove fried okra! I think I was born eating it -- but boiled, no way Jose! Not even on a dare. I think it was because my parents used to slice it and cook it in with their peas and good golly was that a big slimy mess! BLECH!!!

Your menu looks good to me, Deborah. How does that yogurt and FF jello powder mixture taste? It sounds kinda good but I've never tried it.

Hey Deborah,

Your menu looks good to me - I was going to ask about the 2 tsp of "good oil", but now I am assuming you are using it to fry that okra (don't think I've actually ever eaten that!)

...and if you're having potato in the stew you probably should have couscous instead of the rice (don't think you can have rice and potatoes in the same meal)...so what do I win?

Of course, if you're genuinely hungry you must eat - just make sure you monitor that "comfort zone"!

Good luck!

Froufie

No, her okra is in a stew today, not fried. Deborah, put some olive oil in that stew. In fact, if you haven't made it yet, you can cook the vegetables in it before adding everything else. Or add it to your salad.

I always forget about the darned oil, even TODAY, when I made it a point to bring a little bottle to work. I sure could have used it on my hamburger patty (choke, gag, choke -- that thing was powder dry!) If I had re-read my own food post before lunch, it would have reminded me.

ok ok......you southerners......my mother was a tennessee belle......(of the robert e. lee family) and she fried okra all the time, yuck, and then there were the turnip greens, blah, and that white gravy that sticks to your bones, gross me out........not to mention the rabbit stuffed with sausage........ewwwwwwwww........but i never passed up bread pudding......to this day!

your appetite will adjust and you will find that We don't live to eat but we eat to live. Food is the fuel for our bodies to go, it is our energy.......man oh man, where did that come from? (Probably those thoughts of the okra)

but i do eat a lot. those peppers and carrots in my ziploc bag were busting out of there........i have already had all of my fruits and veggies (5-7) and have not even had supper yet.......so I know I will eat at least 10 servings today, and that is ok too......better then cookies and chips I think

the first few weeks is a huge adjustment but then it just clicks

I agree - the first few weeks are rough, especially if you're not used to whole grains and fruits and veggies. But now I find myself craving those things, and when I do eat off program, I regret it because either 1) it ends up tasting not nearly as good as I remember, or 2) I end up feeling sick, lethargic, and even nauseated. That's usually only when I OVER-indulge though. The occasional piece of chocolate is still pure heaven.

Angela

I eat alot, Deborah. I've just been lazy about putting my menus out here. I'll start again tomorrow. We can eat more because we have more to lose than many of our girlfriends. That's until we get down there too! I eat three meals, a snack and a dessert or snack every day. If you are truly hungry you should eat. I know WW says only 36 oz of water is ok but since I've been drinking 80 at the encouragement of my friends, I've been doing better.

Hey everyone, here's my menu for today. I still don't know if I'm eating enough.

1 slice lite ww toast w/pnut butter (2)
shredded wheat
skim milk

coffee

baked potato
little butter (1)
diet soda

apple

salad w/ grilled chicken
olive oil
ff dressing
water

water, water, water

Lisa

Thanks for all your suggestions, everyone ... Kathy, you and I need to fry up a batch of okra for Frannie, don't you think? And actually I might try my hand at "frying" it tomorrow in the 2 tsp of oil ... seems like I saw a Core recipe somewhere that mentions tossing the okra in corn meal seasoned with pepper and seasonings of choice. It might pass in a pinch, I guess. And of course, Frannie HAD to mention white gravy ... another of my loves! Thankfully, I'm not partial to turnips or squirrels or rabbit!

The okra actually worked pretty good in the stew ... it disintegrated to an unrecognizable glop that served as a healthy thickener ... no taste to it at all though. I highly recommend it in lieu of flour.

And Vickie, the couscous wasn't gritty tonight, wonder of wonders! I mixed 1/3 cup dry with one cup water and some garlic pepper and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. It had more of a rice texture thankfully so that was a nice surprise.

Kathy, the powder jello mixed with the yogurt tastes great to me. Once mixed, I really can't tell the difference from the flavored yogurts you buy. Another nice thing I discovered at Wal-Mart this weekend was that they sell their brand (Great Value) of FF plain yogurt in an individual 8-ounce container. I was so thrilled to find that since I'm not keen on mixing up a big batch and taking the containers back and forth to work. What can I say? I'm the queen of convenience (or laziness!)! Their yogurt was good too (when mixed with the jello) ... much creamier than the Dannon variety.

I used the 2 tsp of oil this morning when I scrambled my egg beaters.

I'm in my danger zone time now ... I love to munch mindlessly while I'm on the computer so lets hope the FF/SF pudding and strawberries carries me through these dangerous waters.

Thanks again everyone for all your helpful advice! Sorry for rambling on so long ...

Deborah