Popular Topics in South Beach Diet Community Challenges
Week 8 Monday Meeting (February 22)
Topic of the Week: How to Avoid Food Ruts
Congratulations for making it this far into the Challenge and for staying committed to achieving your weight-loss goals! How are you doing so far? As you continue to lose weight, it’s important to keep your meals interesting, so you won’t get stuck in a food rut and be tempted to eat unhealthy foods. How do you know if you’re in a food rut? If you’ve been keeping a food diary, check out the past week (or, if you haven’t logged one yet, start today) and see what you eat for your meals and snacks. If you have the same whole-grain cereal for breakfast, chicken for dinner, or snack on the same thing every day, you may end up in a food rut. This week, Kindy Peaslee, RD, is here to offer her tips on how to avoid food ruts. Kindy is a registered and certified dietitian with more than 15 years experience in the field of clinical nutrition, outpatient counseling, and food marketing. Her areas of professional experience include training parents, schoolteachers, and youth leaders on strategies to prevent dieting and disordered eating in adolescents.
Plus, we have a special incentive for you! Since you're more than halfway through the Challenge, what a better way to help you mix up your meals than with advice from Marie Almon, South Beach Diet nutrition director. E-mail us one day of your food diary to editors@southbeachdiet.com and Marie Almon will assess and provide her feedback. Look out for her tips and advice on the food diaries here on Monday, March 8.
Let's kick of this week's conversation. Welcome, Kindy!
Thanks, Teresa. It's nice to be here!
The new year is unfolding rapidly! Often February can be a month where we are tempted to slide back into some old habits, in other words, get "stuck" between the old familiar food choices and the new food adventure we can experience on our ‘beach journey’.
This month, avoid getting trapped in a food rut by keeping your meal times interesting and fun. Maybe you are eating the same food choices everyday for breakfast and lunch. Often the dinner meal may have more variety but whether you are cooking for one person or your family, you might find yourself eating that same dinner meal over and over again for days until it is gone. Sound familiar?
The South Beach Diet list of foods to enjoy is full of creative food ideas for all of the food categories; protein, milk/dairy, beans/legumes, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains and fruit choices in each of the phases. So go back to your food list, (print it out if you haven’t already done so) and study it! Be adventurous and open-minded and try to generate a list of new foods to try every week. The best way to avoid a rut is to try new ideas on a regular basis.
Ten ways to stay out of the February ‘food rut’:
Bring excitement back into breakfast! Instead of vegetable juice all the time at breakfast, add vegetables such as spinach, tomatoes, mushroom, peppers or asparagus to your morning eggs. Try new ‘omelet’ recipes.
Have ‘brunch’ at breakfast and mix up your food choices. Try cottage cheese with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes or a turkey slice with melted cheese and a ‘new for you’ vegetable choice on the side.
Bring a hot lunch to work or school. Breathe life into last night’s leftovers. It will save on your food budget too!
For lunch, buy a different variety of ready to eat mixed greens. Try a new flavor of salad dressing or make your own dressing using different fresh or dried herbs.
Dress up the dinner table! Set the table with a tablecloth and placements. Go for a theme that goes along with a special recipe you are trying for the first time. And don’t forget the candles!
Design a ‘make your own’ food station for dinner. Get all your family involved by coming up with creative toppings for a taco meal or create your own ‘chef salad’ bar that is better than any restaurant salad bar!
Trade off cooking responsibilities. Have different family members take turns cooking the meal. It could be dinner or keep it casual with a weekend breakfast or lunch meal cooked by your spouse or older children.
Try a new recipe or try a new take on an old favorite recipe.
Add a different seasoning or vegetable to your lunch and dinner meals. Serve two vegetable choices and experience the new flavor combination.
Make your meal progressive, start with soup or a salad, follow with a main course and add in a light dessert. Enjoy a restaurant style meal while eating in and relaxing with your family.
Do you have tips for avoiding food ruts, or do you have questions? Let's talk!
Hi Kindy,
Thanks for joining us here today.
Recently I have begun to discover Farmers Markets. They are a great way to find produce that may not be in your local markets. We found a fuzzy type green I used in cooking some pinto beans. It gave them nice different peppery taste.
They also have herloom varieties that are not in my local market and have spurred interest in my starting up a garden again !
That's my tip- find your local farmers market ! :)
Laurie
Thanks for your time today. I cling to my food ruts for daytime eating during the week because it saves time shopping and packing and I have calibrated my appetite to expect the balance of potein & veggies that have seemed to work well for me. For dinners, however, it can get boring.
I haunt websites like allrecipes.com to check out the contributions and get new ideas for dinners. It is nice because they post the calorie & nutrition count with the recipes. Often, it is easy to modify a recipe by substitution; although you have to be careful
Also...there is a Recipe Exchange section on both the Phase 1 and Phase 2 board where there is good stuff posted all the time.
Hi Laurie - Thank you for sharing a great tip about tapping into your local Farmer's Market! It sounds like you discovered a new herb. This is a great way to 'avoid a food rut' is to try new herbs and spices in your already favorite meals.
Hi. Just checking in. Need to read thru the posts and catch up. Very excited -- reached my 20 lbs lost milestone this morning!!!
The "one new dish per week" is a great tip. It's not too much - not like you are buying a slew of new ingredients or adding lots of extra cooking...it's just one recipe per week. And you may find a new favorite that you add to your normal rotation. Or, you may find something that you just don't care for, but at least you tried!
So you get a "Best Tips" badge!
