January Pink Food Thread

[Out of the Blue]

You peeled the Zucchini, correct?

I think Atomic had said something about peeling zukes, cukes, apples, etc. to cut out the extra nutrients but I rarely do...

[Out of the Blue]

As for how to do it without sugar, that sounds tough...maybe one of the other wonderful ladies can help you.

I've tried and tried and tried but I just can't do it w/out adding some sugar in my diet. If I loosen the fat/protein/sodium, I can do it but otherwise, I just can't increase my cals enough w/out sugar in there. BTW, don't feel like you'll be putting on weight due to the sugar...just won't happen if you're keeping w/the LE diet!

[Out of the Blue]

Your eating way too little. If you want to maintain you can probably up your calories to at least 1500. You can add hint of salt wheat thins, hint of salt triscuits, candy, rice cakes, unsalted matzah and butter.

Wishing4Princess, I agree w/H&DG...You're just going to crash and burn b/c you won't be able to keep it up for long and nor do you have to on the LE diet. You may want to log your food for a week or so (if you're not doing so already) to get a feel for the boundries (cals/protein/fat/sodium)...It really helped me to figure out so quick go-to meals that were safe so I don't always have to log.

ETA...Take it from me...I did the "crash & burn" LE diet in Dec. b/c I thought I could get a BFP on the 1st try and not have to keep up the diet...After a BFN and AF, I changed things around to 1500ish cals and I'm sticking there.

[Mochagirl]

I've found a pretty girl-friendly brand which doesn't taste like you're licking a goat and instead just has a nice subtle flavor.

[Wishing4Princess]

Wishing4Princess, I agree w/H&DG...You're just going to crash and burn b/c you won't be able to keep it up for long and nor do you have to on the LE diet. You may want to log your food for a week or so (if you're not doing so already) to get a feel for the boundries (cals/protein/fat/sodium)...It really helped me to figure out so quick go-to meals that were safe so I don't always have to log.

ETA...Take it from me...I did the "crash & burn" LE diet in Dec. b/c I thought I could get a BFP on the 1st try and not have to keep up the diet...After a BFN and AF, I changed things around to 1500ish cals and I'm sticking there.

Good point about OV too! didn't know that, thank you!

[littlemissnaughty7]

yes you can def easily stop ovulating by not sticking to the 1500 cal mark, AS told me some people who were trying to get away with 1200 cals stopped ovulating and thats prob the worst thing that can happen !

[dramabird]

Veggie burger -- I did it!! It packs a wallop on my daily sodium intake so I had to watch that like a hawk, but thanks to a few awesome no-salt-added things I found, it was doable.

* Morning Star garden veggie burger -- 110 cals, 350mg sodium
* Wonderbread white bun -- 110 cals, 210mg sodium
* 1 slice Swiss cheese -- 60 cals, 25mg sodium
* 1 T. Heinz no-salt ketchup -- 20 cals, 0mg sodium
* No-salt bread-and-butter pickle slices -- 1 serving is 35 cals, 0mg sodium (I got these from HyVee, a grocery store in the Midwest -- those stores can be found in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The pickles were so good I had three slices on my burger and another seven on the side, so a total of 2 servings)
* I did include 1/2 teaspoon of mustard (30mg sodium), but really the pickles were so flavorful that I didn't detect the mustard at all, so I won't include that next time.

So, the calorie total is quite reasomable (366), but the sodium is a bit daunting (585mg between the bun, burger and cheese, assuming all other toppings are sodium-free). I managed to stick right at or just under 1000mg for the day by being careful with my other choices (even low-sodium stuff like caramel rice cakes and Diet Coke can add up when just one entree is nearly 600mg!!).

Still, it was just nice to have something different to eat. I've also put together a veggie pasta sauce that's bubbling away on the stove right now -- about two cups chopped white mushrooms, one chopped green bell pepper, one jalapeno (hope that's an okay veggie), one small white sweet potato, a peeled zucchini, a peeled yellow squash, a can of tomato paste (15mg sodium for a serving) and two cans of no-salt-added diced tomatoes (20mg sodium per serving). I have no idea if it'll be any good. I may add a bit of sugar and wine right at the end. Hopefully it'll add some variety -- a different thing to eat on top of noodles than the fake Stroganoff I've eaten quite a few times (and that is pretty darn tasty, don't get me wrong, but after 29 days on the diet, I'm ready for a change-up).

Also, another encouraging product I found at the store yesterday: Classico-brand light asiago romano alfredo sauce. One serving (1/4 cup) is 70 calories, 5g fat, 1g protein and 280mg sodium. That's certainly not *low* sodium, by any means, but my thought is this ... if I cook up two servings of pasta (7g protein per serving, no sodium) and mix it with 1/2 cup of the sauce ... and then streeeetch the whole thing by adding some veggies (I haven't done broccoli this month, maybe I could get away with that) ... then even though I've technically made two servings, I would divide it into three portions, making each pasta entree a total of 5.3g protein and 187mg sodium. I don't think that's bad at all, considering one of my main go-to meals of egg whites on bread with mayo has a whopping 14g of protein and 135mg sodium.

The alfredo sauce will be for a future meal, though, as I'm probably going to be on the veggie burger wagon for a few days (until, y'know, I'm bored with that). So my lunch today will be the egg/mayo/bread listed above, plus an applesauce (no sodium) and a rice cake (30mg sodium) and some Skittles (next to no sodium). So I'll have eaten 165mg of sodium, leaving me enough for a dinner of my burger tonight, plus another rice cake, plus some Snackwell's devil food cookies (4 cookies is 200 calories, 0 fat, 100mg sodium) and whatever else I can find that doesn't bump sodium past 1000 or my calories past 1300 for the day.

[HopeandDreamG]

I think Atomic had said something about peeling zukes, cukes, apples, etc. to cut out the extra nutrients but I rarely do...

Thats why I was asking, although I think Zukes may not hold up well being peeled.

[HopeandDreamG]

Have you seen the cookies before? They come in a plastic tub and are either choc, ginger or regular flavor, I think. If DS1 takes a nap, he gets 4 when he wakes up Mama gets about 30, lol

Yes I have seen them. I love the cool whip idea. BTW: You are seriously funny. I am always smiling when I read your posts!

[HopeandDreamG]

Hey dramabird~ sounds awesome can you come over and cook for me?

What are these bread and butter pickles..sounds good. Is there a brand name? NO Sodium wow!