Cream Sauce!

You may or may not know that I'm lactose intolerant in addition to having recently developed a dairy allergy of sorts. One of the big things that I miss is cream sauce. Also: cream cheese. For cream cheese as an ingredient, Tofutti's Better than Cream Cheese is a great substitute, like cream cheese with pesto on crackers or cream cheese and jalapeno jelly. But it doesn't have enough of a flavor (for me, at least) to just slather a pile onto a bagel and chow down.

However, I discovered that a couple of tablespoons of Better than Cream Cheese and a big healthy glop of pesto stirred into hot pasta (or veggies) makes a pretty damn good cream sauce! I've done it with Basil Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto and it works out great. And even better, we use a pasta that's got veggies in it or lots of protein, like Barilla's Picollini or Plus, no it's not a carb bomb for Carl. The Pesto Cream Sauce has next to nothing carbs, too! Most pestos are pretty low carb and Better than Cream Cheese only has 1 carb per Tablespoon!

Food Processor, Flatouts and Flaxmeal.

So, yet again, it's been almost a month since I posted. (I really need to get better about that.) But now that the Christmas Crazies and inventory madness are done at my store, I've been helping out with other projects (both in and out of our store) that didn't fair so well through the holiday season. I've also been playing catch up at home.

I'm slowly but surely getting my craft room organized. The other day I spent most of the afternoon building a rack to house my totes of yarn, so that I can stack them higher without having to fight to get to the stuff on the bottom of the stack. With the craft room shaping up, it means less clutter in the living room, because my yarn (along with everything else) is starting to be where it belongs.

I've gotten into the habit of drinking much more coffee than I should the last two months or so, but I've been slowly replacing that with tea instead, so that's an improvement on several fronts, not the least of which is that I rarely use sugar in my tea, but always do in coffee. I've gotten a better handle on my dairy-free, largely by discovering "cheats" like goat's milk cheese which I can actually enjoy without suffering. But the biggest thing is the 9 pounds I've shed simply by having the time to actually eat meals, rather than surviving on fast food and baked goods.

The biggest hurdle we're still working our way around is balancing Carl's low-carb eating with my hypoglycemic need for carbs. He's been shedding a lot of excess weight simply by avoiding carbs wherever possible, however, I need to eat a pretty even split of carbs and protein.

I bought a food processor with a gift card from my Dad (Thanks, Dad!) which I think will be a big help with finding that balance because among other things, I can make my own "breadcrumbs" now. We made a batch this morning that I will probably use for dinner tomorrow that's about 50-50 Whole Grain Cheezits and Flaxmeal. The Flaxmeal added a lot of bulk to the crumbs, but because it's nearly 100% fiber, it doesn't add any net carbs.

We've both started using the Multi + Flax Flatouts (Thanks, Lisa!) for sandwiches and things because again, the addition of flaxmeal adds bulks, but lowers the net carb count. It's great for him to be able to have a burger than's only got 12 carbs in the "bun" versus things like Kaiser rolls which can rack up to almost 50 carbs. It's good for me because it's not low carb in an artificial way like a like of the "Atkins Approved" snacks that were everywhere a few years ago.

We're enjoying the foods so far, because we're being creative and I think as long as we can keep coming up with new ideas, I think that we won't have any trouble sticking with it!

Craziness.

I've not had much free time due to family commitments lately, between the nephew's doctor appointments and birthdays and so on, but we're still plugging along on the "Get Healthy" plan.

I've been doing really good at staying away from dairy and watching my portions. Carl has started eating low-carb. Which, by the way, it's a blast balancing a low-carb diet with a dairy-free hypoglycemic diet. I need carbs, he shouldn't have them. Cheese is an awesome option for him, but I can't have it. It's like grocery shopping for two separate households! I don't know how Lisa does it without losing her mind.

Right now, we're cooking a protein and a veggie, then I'm having a quick carb side, like veggie pasta or whole grain something while he has either a second portion of the veggie or a second veggie. It seems to be working pretty well now that it's starting to be a routine.

For snacks, we hide his cheese in a drawer in the fridge and we hide my crackers and pretzels in a cupboard that up until now wasn't really being used for anything. Again, so far so good.

I made homemade ketchup and some coarse ground mustard as well as making sure we're well stocked with salad dressings. I made a huge pot of meat sauce so I have something handy for my pasta and he's got something different to throw on his eggs for breakfast.

I have to saw that I'm really impressed how quickly he adapted to having a scramble egg wrap for breakfast from the peanut butter and honey that he's used to. He tells me his heartburn is almost gone and he's seems like he's starting to lose a bit of weight.

We're going to have a ton of bumps in the road I'm sure, but it seems as if we've finally found the right path! Wish us luck!

A few thoughts on Getting Healthy!

The Daily Challenge at MeYou Health is built around this idea. Health.com slideshows devoted to it. I was doing it by myself because the bigger goals seemed to intimidating. What am I talking about?

Small Actions. Baby Steps. Mini-goals.

Call them whatever you want, but time and time again, it's been found that this is the best way to make a big change in your life. With weight loss, they may not give you the most immediate results, but they're going to be the things that you stick with.

Swaps are the easiest baby step to take. Here are some that have worked really well for us.

• Iced Tea instead of Diet Coke (Carl)
• Whole Grain/Whole Wheat/High Protein Pasta instead of Semolina Pasta
• Pita Chips instead of Potato Chips (mine)
• Edy's Fruit Bars instead of Ice Cream
• Seltzer/Homemade Sodas instead of Mass Produced Soda
• Trail Mix instead of Junk Food
• Jayone Rice Rolls or Ryvita Fruit and Nut instead of Cookies
• Kashi Cereals instead of High Carb/Low Protein Options (mine)
• Almond Milk instead of Cow's Milk (mine)

Little stuff. When we crave crispy, we eat crispy. When we want pasta we eat pasta. If I want milk, I drink milk. We just make the smarter choice.

Carl is walking and doing more and more of the really nearby (within a few blocks) errands. I'm riding my bike to do the ones that are a little further (Up to 5 mile round trip). We drive if it's too far to walk/ride or if it involves hauling something home, like the case of seltzer I bought last night.

We've both opted to completely ignore the numbers. I look out of curiosity and because Lyam is diabetic and I like to have an idea of carb counts for him, and because I need to make sure I get enough protein at breakfast, but that's it. The only number we're concerning ourselves with is our respective pants sizes.

We don't count carbs. We don't count calories, points or fat. We don't weigh ourselves. We don't even own a scale. We promised not to drive if we don't need to. We promised that every time we light the grill, we're going to add a vegetable too. We promised to support each other and to help each other make smarter eating decisions. And he promised to let me buy new bras and underwear if I can get below 200 lbs.

I'm beginning to see that he's losing weight (in fact, he just told me he's wearing shorts he couldn't fit in 2 weeks ago!). When my Grandma wanted me to weigh myself the other day, I discovered that along with a pants size, I had dropped 16 lbs!

And the best part is, by making swaps instead of sacrifices, the only thing I miss is cheese, and since I've become quite lactose intolerant, there's not a lot I can do with that one, except have 1 or 2 slices of swiss on a sandwich when I can't take the craving anymore. If I have more dairy than that or anything and creamier, I get too sick and it's not worth it.

Screw the numbers. Start small. Eat Smart. Do more. Lose weight. Get happy.

Don't dwell on the numbers. If you do the right thing, the numbers will follow.

Make little changes. Don't say, I'm never going to have pasta again. Instead, say "I'll have pasta less often and when I do it will be whole grain (or veggie pasta, whatever works for you)"

Make smarter food choices. If you have a fast food craving, don't make yourself suffer, get the kids meal. 20 years ago, that was the value meal anyway at most places. Plus, you get free toy!

Get off your ass! Park a row further from the building at work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk the long way around the building. All that little stuff adds up!

The inches/pounds/sizes will come off. Have faith in that. It may take a little longer before you see results, but you won't give up before you see them like you would on a crazy diet.

The happy happens all by itself. And it multiplies every time someone says you look thinner. Or that what you're doing must be so hard (and you know it isn't!)

One more time!

Screw the numbers. Start small. Eat Smart. Do more. Lose weight. Get happy.

Check-In. And I thought I was inconsistent.

The biggest downside, to me anyway about dairy-free, believe it or not isn't the fact that it's somewhat more pricey than the regular dairy options. It's not even the fact that in order to get dairy-free you often have to go vegan, or gluten-free. Or sometimes even, gluten-free, fat free, sugarfree, flavor-free.

What never fails to piss me off is the completely random and inconsistent ways that grocery stores seem to stock the dairy-free options. Sure, put them in the organic or natural section, I expect that. Put them in the Vegan section, I can even deal with that. Even better, put them in the same cooler as the organic dairy, I can deal with that. But when they're randomly intermingled with the organic "regular" dairy, it makes me want to cry.

Why is it so difficult to put the dairy-free/vegan all on one or two shelves at the top or bottom of the door and fill the rest with organic dairy? Why do should I have to sort through organic cheeses and spreads to get to the one tub of Better Than Cream Cheese at the back? Why is organic ice cream stocked between rows of dairy-free and vegan desserts? I stock shelves as a large part of my job. It's not like it's hard to put the Daiya shreds up or down one shelf.

And while we're talking about it, why does it seem like the dairy-free stuff is always randomly in and out of stock? Do they order by hand? (Ok, at Sign of the Bear, they do. But they're also way more organized than grocery stores I'm talking about.)

For the longest time, I was convinced that nobody but Sign of the Bear carried Better Than Cream Cheese. Now it seems that (at least our local) Wegman's has an over abundance of it, crammed in the back of the bottom shelf in the last cooler in the natural/organic section. They carried Tofutti Cuties in Key Lime and All Vanilla forever. Tonight I go, all they have is the classic vanilla with chocolate wafers. No sign that they ever even carried the others.

My Giant doesn't have any Soy Yogurt and hardly any natural, organic, dairy-free or Vegan options, even though the next closest Giant to us has an entire organic/natural market in the back and several other Giants in our area have an organic aisle. Nevermind, my closest Giant is on the opposite side of a city park from WEGMANS!!

This is a huge change for me and I'm trying to be good. I really am. Why are the grocery stores making it so damn hard!?!?! You wouldn't randomly change your regular ice cream flavors. Sure they add new and get rid of poor sellers, but the dairy-free stuff seems like it changes from week to week sometimes.

The regular dairy cheeses are always neatly organized, excepting when there's an amazing sale, why is the dairy-free/Vegan/Organic always a huge mish-mash that looks like there was a total free-for-all battle in the cooler?

Come on, be nice to those of us who need/choose to eat a little differently.

Check-in. Healthier Choices.

I've lost nearly a pants size!

We're learning a lot about ourselves through this whole get healthy process. Here's the highlights!

• I feel like a little kid when I'm flying down a hill on my bike!
• If we have Edy's Fruit Bars or Whole Fruit Bars in the freezer, they're nearly always our first choice when we go for a snack.
• The fruit bars have also cut down on Carl's ice cream cravings, while making giving up dairy easier for me.
• Keeping chocolate in the house, but somewhere that's a pain to get to, has cut down on chocolate binges for both of us, and has almost completely eliminated my urges to buy a candy bar at the check-out.
• Pita chips have solved my issue with not being able to substitute crunchy for crispy.
• The 5 mile round trip to work on my bike seems to be what I need to be able to sleep well.
• I have a lot of fun battling traffic on my bike. Although I still walk it across the 22 interchange on my way to work.

All in all, I think that we're making a lot of change for the better and Carl is even starting to make plans for what he's going to do to make up for the fact that he can't really bike to work even if he wanted to.

Check-In. Slacker!

Alright, so I've been really slackerly about posting. For about a week.

Here's the run down.

Eating has been really sloppy, but with a family picnic and the resultant leftovers, that one's tough to avoid. At least with my family.

I've found that in very small quantities, I can tolerate Swiss and Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese relatively well. But it needs to be a very small quantity and I can tell from how my belly feels that I cheated. Honestly, it's worth it every now and then because I'm practically going through withdrawal here. I didn't mind giving up milk, butter or ice cream, but not having cheese has been crazy tough.

I bought a bike on Thursday! I made the potentially stupid decision make my first ride my Trip to Work yesterday and it actually turned out great! I got there in about half the time compared to walking!

I had forgotten how much I love tearing down a great big hill! SO much fun. I also love how much more freedom I feel like I have compared to walking. I can get myself to and from work, without begging rides and I don't have to lose almost 2 hours of my day to do it! Plus, I have wiggle room in my mornings again.

I can tell I'm still not in good enough shape to haul things with me on the bike, but I'm getting places and fending for myself in traffic and it's great. I was surprised to find that while not particularly courteous, drivers in Allentown are much more bike-friendly than people in Whitehall. It's almost like hitting an invisible barrier coming into and out of the city.

I have people in the city waiting for me to finish crossing, waving me ahead of them for left turns, etc. In Whitehall, I got cut off and almost plowed into the side of some guys car yesterday, people ride your butt as if you've a car under the speed limit and so on. Of course, I only rode to and from work once. It could have all been a fluke.

Check-In. Epic Win.

Tofutti Key Lime Pie Frozen Treats! Awesome. Let's not even talk about anything else tonight except how good these are.

Seriously, typing a real post is proving completely impossible because the cat insists on sitting between me and the laptop, but I had to share about the Tofutti Treats.

Check-In. More Chaos.

I had cheerios for breakfast yesterday. Can't remember what I had for a snack, probably Good N Plenty's with are at least fat free.

Primo's Italian Diablo, no cheese for lunch.

McDonalds Caesar Salad for dinner. And the rest of my Soy Cheese pizza for a snack later. At least I got some exercise on the playground.

I'm having a very had time sticking to a schedule because of helping Lisa move. They keep a schedule that's just different enough from mine that I'm up for a snack at their mealtimes, and vice versa. Also, they stay up later than I've been the last couple weeks.

Today I'm off to a pretty good start, cheerios for breakfast, and 30 minute walk and Health is Wealth Vegetarian, lactose-free spinach munchies for a snack. They're like pizza rolls, but with spinach instead of pepperoni. Oh, and they're awesome!

Check-In. Moving Chaos.

It's not even my move and I'm getting caught up in the chaos of it. I'm trying hard and I think I did pretty good at eating pretty well today.

Breakfast on the run was an Almond Croissant from Wegmans and Odwalla's Original Super Protein.

Jayone Rice Roll for a snack.

Almonds for a snack.

Tomato Pie and original Terra Chips for lunch.

Trail mix for a snack.

Wendy's Spicy Chicken for Dinner, which was crappy of me, but at least I stuck to the dairy free thing.

Cheerios for a snack.

Hungry again, and I think it's because I've been going since like 7:30 this morning and I'm not feeling well. When my body's trying hard to fight something off sometimes I get a huge appetite. The trick is finding something healthy to eat.

I managed to get about 15 minutes of Yoga in today, too.

Check-In. Last Day Before Vacation.

Cereal for breakfast.

Almonds for midmorning snack.

Salad with almonds and green bean chips again for lunch. Digging the Daiya cheese now that I'm getting used to it.

Jayone rice bar for after work snack.

Amy's Soy Cheese pizza with Gimme Lean sausage for dinner.

Whole Fruit bar for a snack.

Did about a half hour of yoga tonight.

Dying for something crispy, thinking I'm going to have some pretzels.

Also, I had like about 5 Russian Tea Cookies today at work. But I'm going to say that's Viv's fault because she makes amazing cookies.

Check-In, Got a little naughty today.

I had Chocolate Cheerios for breakfast again.

Rotisserie chicken for lunch with Purely Decadent Peanut Butter ZigZag for dessert.

I had Taco Bell without cheese or sour cream for dinner, which was not the original plan. Apparently the Quakertown Primo's closed so we had to get something else, kinda last minute.

I had some more of my fake ice cream for a snack.

Spent the day, helping Lisa pack, but I did walk over to Sign of the Bear and found time to get new shoes to make my walk to work more comfortable. Famous Footwear actually carries sneakers in a 4E (men's Extra Wide), so I actually got the right size!!!!

Will probably have a bit of something when I get home.

See ya tomorrow!