Diet Changes for the long run
I now eat a lot of plant-based, bean/lentil dishes with low starch roasted veggies.
I still have a cheat meal occasionally, and I haven't banned any foods (except Doritos...they're my heroin/crack). But in general, if something is not good for me, like ice cream, non Dorito chips, processed cookies/candy bars, etc. I just think of them as decadent "tasting foods". I take 1-2 bites, really enjoy the flavor and texture, stop, and then go fill up on healthy stuff. I often just share those kinds of snacks with Jacqui. Win Win.
It's ok to order pizza or a burger occasionally, live your life. But over time, I've found those cravings lessen, give yourself time. If you fall off the wagon, forgive yourself, reassess, tweak your strategy and move on. Probably one of the main things causing cravings when you switch to a healthier diet is not getting enough protein and healthy fat.
Stop drinking your calories.
I weaned myself off soda including diet. Too many studies are starting to show that diet soda messes with your gut bacteria. It helps the "bad" bacteria grow, which affects food cravings and appetite.
I only drink beer when I'm camping. and even then just one potent Greater Good IPA type beer. I'm active enough to burn it off, and camp fires and beer sort of go together. Hits the spot after a day of biking, hiking and/or kayaking.
I still make a whiskey sour mix, but not to make cocktails anymore. I add an ounce of the sour mix to 1 liter of seltzer water made via our SodaStream. It's just enough flavor to kill my soda cravings
Whiskey Sour Mix recipe: using a 4 cup pyrex measuring pitcher, stir 1/2 cup of sugar into 1 cup boiling water until dissolved, then add 1 cup of lime juice and 1 cup of lemon juice. Mix, store in fridge. Usually lasts me a week. I usually just buy the big bottles of Real Lemon and Real Lime from BJ's.
One ounce of sour mix per liter is only 5 grams of sugar (20 calories). I often drink 3-4 liters of the seltzer/sour mix per day, so it's at most half the calories of one 12 ounce can of coke which has 39 grams of sugar.
bean/lentil based meals to fill up on fiber
Highly recommend the following recipes from https://www.rainbowplantlife.com
- hummus (skip the drizzle part)
- shepherd's pie (brown lentils)
- red lentil curry (mix with roasted vegetables)
- butternut squash lentil curry (I roast the butternut squash, onion and garlic )
- sweet potato lentil curry (I bake the sweet potato separately too)
- lentil bolognese italian
- fried tofu
- great protein source, and tastes good with this Chili Sesame Peanut Sauce (add at the last 30 seconds so it doesn't burn)
I usually blend the lentil curries after they finish in the Instant Pot. Before blending, I'll use a slotted spoon to save a few scoops to keep a little texture before blending the rest smooth. Blending brings out the flavors more, and it gets rid of that gritty, gravel texture lentil soups can have sometimes.
I often cook 2 cups of Mexican black/pinto beans per the instant pot instructions. I use them throughout the week to make lunch with Mission low carb wheat wraps, sliced red onions, tomatoes, lettuce, shredded cheddar and hot sauce. Weaned me off deli meat for lunch. I put the beans and cheese on the wrap first, zap it for 30 seconds, then add the raw veggies.
When I'm feeling fancy, I'll cook 1+ 1/3 cup of dried black beans to 4 cups water per my instant pot page, and then I use the drained, cooked black beans for this black bean patty recipe Satisfies my hamburger cravings.
You'll find GOYA canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the Mexican/Ethnic aisle of your grocery store. One can is enough for the bean patty recipe 3 times over. Or you can use what's leftover to make this Southwest sauce
Baked beans for dessert?
I know it's a bit weird, but lately I love making baked beans for dessert. Satisfies the sweet craving without the blood sugar crash.
No Large Pot/Dutch Oven needed! Recipe here
healthier rolled oat cookies and 50% whole wheat bread
To get myself off store bought cookies, I started making my own. Google healthy tahini rolled oat chocolate chip cookies. you'll find a recipe you have the ingredients for (assuming you make the hummus recipe above). Example here My trick is that I add a shot of amber/dark rum to the cookie batter. The alcohol burns off and it adds amazing flavor. On the other hand, when my weight loss started to stall out in October, I stopped making cookies every week and starting eating apples and other fresh fruit. Should have done that from the beginning, but baby steps. But the cookies are great energy bars for my longer 2-4 hour bike rides. Cut yourself some slack as you practice new healthier habits. Tweak when the weight loss stalls.
I also learned how to make sourdough bread. Bread fills in the missing amino acids while eating mostly lentils and beans. I make a 50% wheat, 50% bread flour once a week now. makes two loaves. Similar 50:50 recipe for home made pizza dough. Jacqui's a happy girl; she loves her carbs. Lots of great videos on how to make sourdough on youtube. Go find what works for your. The sourdough subreddit has good info too. I condensed my favorites to a spreadsheet (of course), sourdough spreadsheet link
To make sourdough, you'll have to buy a weighing scale that does grams, and I'd recommend a collapsible sourdough proofing box to control the dough rise temperature. I made my own starter from scratch, takes ~2 weeks. Finding a >70F/21.5C spot in the house is key to developing your starter. I put mine behind the dorm fridge we use for our SodaStream bottles. The mini-fridge compressor throws off just the right amount of heat to make the starter happy.
We also switched to natural peanut butter (BJ's brand) for our toast. It's a lot healthier than Jif or Skippy. It's just peanuts, peanut oil, and salt.
Yogurt bowls or Protein Shakes, not ice cream
To cut back on ice cream (it's a tasting food now), I switched to 2% FAGE yogurt. I usually add 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup, chopped walnuts and blueberries to a heaping half cup of yogurt to satisfy the ice cream itch. Chobani is close, but FAGE is much better imho. Plain, not vanilla. Then you can use it in recipes too. Like tzatziki for home made, air fryer falafel. Yogurt is often a thickener in curries too.
At first, I ate healthy egg omelettes for breakfast, but lately, I've switched to a smoothie for breakfast. One scoop of Orgain Chocolate Fudge protein powder (the scoop comes in the container), and one scoop of PBFit Peanut Butter powder with 16oz 1% milk. Blend at low speed. Sweetened Oatmilk has a lot of carbs, so maybe just mix 8oz oatmilk to 8oz water. Per my exercise page I keep carbs minimal at breakfast, so I can quickly get into fat burning mode during my morning zone 2 exercise session.
A lot of people love home made ice cream with their Ninja Creami kitchen gadget (~$200) There are a lot of healthy protein powder based Creami ice cream recipes. Adding a pinch of xanthum gum powder per pint adds creaminess if the texture doesn't seem quite right. But I tend to only indulge after exceptionally long bike rides. Normally it's not worth the thaw and mix time the Ninja Creami machine requires each time.
Peanut Flavored Ice cream made with navy beans
