I have to get to work.. bringing my book with me to read on my breaks.. I have a few questions tho.. I am usually really pressed for time, one of my biggest downfalls is eating on the run! I work 9 hrs a day most days krazy hours and all and I find myself grabbing anything i can get my hands on! I was wondering if any one of you have any suggestions for eating on the go?.. is there a link on here where it may have been discussed before? would be a great help to me.. I know that is my BIGGEST problem area... I get fustrated and just eat!!!! so any suggestions would be awesome!! thanks a bunch!! Noël

I did a few thinks in that area that help:
1. Buy a great lunch tote. Fill it every evening.
2. Once a week, broil up 4-5 chicken breasts, cut them into chunck, and put them in the fridge in a heavy duty baggie. You can always throw them on lettuce and voila! Salad! We also cut up peppers.
3. On Sundays, I boil up 5-8 hard boiled eggs. Great for snacks.
4. Another Sunday chore: Count out your pistachios/peanuts into little baggies.
5. I have a fridge in my office, so I keep a big jar of V-8 veggie juice in there for snacks. If not, you can always get the little cans.
6. When you do cook a SB meal, double or triple it. THen freeze the leftovers in those plastic Glad containers. Just pop one into yur tote for lunch every day!

Noel, I'm SO in your boat there. Fully dealing with that myself. But some of the solutions I've come up with this week seem to be working, so here's my thoughts:

1) I agree with Natter -- get a good lunch tote. Preferably find something that's insulated. Then, get one of those ice packs that you can re-freeze. Throw it in the pack, and you can carry some perishables through the day.

2) Some of the things I've been bringing are, a baggie of pistachios, cheese sticks, Laughing Cow Cheese (OH MY GOD! Love that!) Today for lunch, for instance, I brought some cottage cheese with chunks of cucumber in it -- I carried it in my lunch tote, which goes with me all day. Works like a charm.

3) Good luck, and be creative. Like Natter said, take hard-boiled eggs with you... cheese is very portable... etc.

I echo all those great suggestions! The V-8 in cans is great, as are the SF Jell-o that already come in cups! You can also try the Light n' Fit Carb Control Yogurt (the vanilla flavor should be fine on Phase 1)...it comes in 4oz containers, just the perfect size! Also, celery and Laughing Cow. Cheese sticks can last for a long time, even out of an insulated bag--I throw one in my purse when I'm on the go and afraid I might get hungry.

Premade salads can be a big help. I love those little Glad containers that are a 1/2 cup. I put dressing in them and find them really helpful when I want to take a salad to go!

Hope that helps. I wish you lots of luck, Nik!

Just one caution: If you take hard boil eggs make sure you grab a hard boiled egg rather than a raw one! My husband moved the eggs around in the fridge and I got quite a surprise when I tried to peel my egg for my snack this morning

I like to take raw cauliflower to snack on as well.

Everyone has great tips. I think the thing that is overwhelming is that there are a lot of things 'hidden' in labels and it will take a few very long trips at the grocery to get it right.

Prepare prepare prepare. Don't leave yourself the opportunity to goof up. Take tea bags with you everywhere. Carry Sweet and Low or Stevia packets in your purse. Try to eat before you go to a restraunt so in case there aren't any options you're not in tears (no - this has never happened to me....)

I had dreams about this when I did phase 1 the first time.

It's a lot to absorb, but the book is a good read. Welcome! and good luck!

Hey chicks great tips. I think I am going to use your suggestions and I am a work at home mom. I find I tend to leave things to the last minute when it comes to eating for myself. You chicks are so smart.

I find that looking at the menu for a restaurant on their website before going has helped me a lot. Of course, that limits me mostly to chain restaurants, but it's worth it to me.

Speaking of which, has anyone checked out KFC's new oven roasted chicken strips? I was wondering if I could consider them a back up in case I get waylaid somewhere.

Laurie -
KFC was sued over those chicken strips. They were found to not have scientific evidence to prove they were correct. At this point no penatlities for KFC, but if they run the advertisment again they are charged 10,000 for every instance.

Www-what? I'm confused! Sued over what? What scientific information did they present? I haven't seen any commercials, just signs at the KFC's I pass that advertise them. These are the non-crispy ones. I looked at the website, and they only list them with rice, so the counts are wonky. Their green beans look pretty SBD friendly, though. Only fifty cals, 1.5g fat, 2g sugar. They do have bacon in them, but otherwise, a pretty healthy choice. If I could only find out what is in the chicken strips...do they marinade them in a sugar-based marinade?

Laurie -
Apparenlty they were in hot water with the FDA about it. If I remember correctly. You may not have seen the commercials, but I heard on the radio that the new 'healthy' items from KFC could not longer be marketed in the original format due to unsubstantial scientific evidence.

Oh, I see. I looked it up on CNN, and the issue was with their promoting fried chicken as a healthy choice, which it obviously isn't. They did say that two fried chicken breasts has less fat that one Whopper, which is probably true, but doesn't mean that either is a good choice! Anyways, I was talking about their Tender Roast...the oven roasted chicken that is not fried.

sorry Laurie - hmmm I don't know if it's a good choice or not.

See what happens when you hear 85% of a news story.....

Since the KFC website only lists the chicken strips with the sides, what I did was use their nutritional calculator and chose the rice and green beans as sides to get their nutritional information as well as the oven roasted strips and then subtracted the sides to get the info for the strips. Here is some of the information:
................Calories......Fat(grams)...Sat. Fat......Sodium.....Sugar
Strips:.............220........4.5..............2. 5...........1200.........5
Green Beans:......50........1.5..............0.......... .....570.........2
Seasoned Rice:..150........1.0..............0.............. 640..........1

I took a look at this information and decided that the sodium level was too high for me since my doctor wants me to watch my salt.

Yeah, that's alot of sodium!

LOL about swtiching the rasw and hardboiled eggs!