All posts in category Protein

Made in the Kitchen, Indeed.

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 60 Minutes
Foam Rolling & Stretching 20 Minutes

I love Pinterest!  It is no secret that the struggling part of my weight loss journey is diet.  FItness is in the bag and I could improve on it immensely if I could just get my food intake under control.

Yesterday I had some noteworthy food and a few non-scale victories, if that is what you want to call them.

I do all of my grocery shopping for the week on Monday.  In the recent past I have gotten into a NASTY habit of rewarding myself (for going to the grocery store?) with a candy of my choice.  Ok, you got me.  A KING SIZE candy bar of my choice, which I scarf down in the car.  Ya, that puppy doesn’t even make it home before it is in my stomach.  I kept rationalizing that if it was only once a week it was no big deal.  But then there are the times that I have to run to the store because we are out of diapers, or some other small thing, and those delicious candy bar’s are staring you in the face at the check out counter where they have been strategically placed.

I actually haven’t “rewarded” myself with a candy bar for a few weeks, but it’s probably because I have been “rewarding” myself with all kinds of foods for the last 3 weeks for something or another.

I went to the store at 2:00 just after Hanna’s nap and I could tell on my way down there that the carrots, hummus, pineapple chobani, and apple that I had for lunch were not going to hold through the entire shopping trip.

I started getting a hankering.  For something sweet.  The thought would not leave my mind.

“No, Carrie.  You have done so good today and if you are hungry it only means that you body needs something, and that something is NOT a candy bar.  It will only leave you feeling sick and guilty”  

I love when I can have an inner monologue with myself, and it helps even more if I can actually say it out loud so I can hear it (yes, I talk to myself.  I am SO NOT crazy.  Try it when you have a moment of weakness, it helps).

After talking to myself down about 5 aisles (remember that I have a small child with me so everyone thinks I’m talking to her), I had an idea.  Protein bar.  Duh!  Why have I never thought about this before?  They sell them individually and at this point in the day I had only taken in less than 1000 calories, burned 700 calories at the gym, and I could totally afford a delicious protein bar.  The only problem is that I wanted a bar that had a LOT of protein in it so it would tide me over until dinner at 5:00.  A Luna or Larabar just wasn’t going to cut it.  I needed some calories people!

After staring at the protein bars for what seemed like forever I decided on this beauty:

Chocolate Peanut Butter= Pure Heaven.  It totally did the trick for curbing my sweet tooth and had a whopping 30 GRAMS of PROTEIN.  It was a weight lifting day yesterday and so I was trying to pack a protein punch.  It had 280 calories (that’s actually way more than I would normally eat with a bar, but at this point I was using it as a meal replacement) and 7 grams of fat.  Not bad at all.

Fabulous discovery #2:

I FINALLY made this amazing recipe:

Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta from Oh She Glows.  BEST. VEGAN. PASTA. EVER.  I could have eaten an ENTIRE pan full of this stuff, it was that good.  I give it 5 out 5 stars.

Go try this recipe, now.  It was fast and EASY, and even the hub’s was into it.  I still have a little of the sauce in my fridge and I am saving it like its liquid gold.

Fabulous discovery #3

I’m trying to incorporate more salads into my diet and have decided that I am going to be eating them for lunch, but since I don’t want to run to the store several times a week I discovered a great way to store your lettuce so it lasts longer:

This is 3 bags of lettuce stored in glass mason jars.  I had heard previously that if you store lettuce in glass it will stay good longer, but I never even thought (until pinterest of course) that you could store them in jars!  What a great idea!  I’m trying it out this week to see if my lettuce will stay good all the way until my next grocery day.

Now I just need to make sure that the salad stays different and interesting.

What are your favorite salad toppings? Favorite dressing?

Protein Bars: love or hate?

Are you like me and feel like you have to reward yourself for doing everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping?

5 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on February 28, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Meal Planning, Planning, Protein, Rewards, Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 28, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/28/made-in-the-kitchen-indeed/

Adventures In (Meatless) Cooking, Don’t Be Scared.

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 60 Minutes

A couple weeks ago I was at our local health foods store and ventured into the “Alternative Meat” section.  Fake meat, say what?  I am not oblivious that there is fake meat out there, although I was skeptical about how “meat like” it would be.  I picked the best looking package of Tofurky Italian Sausage and went on my merry way.

There it sat, my tofu “sausage”, starring at me from the dairy drawer in my fridge every time I opened the refrigerator.  What was I going to make with this stuff?  Should I tell the hub’s that it is Tofurky, or hide it in sauce and not tell him?

I have no problem handling raw meat.  I could prove that with how many times I have stirred the meatloaf with my hands, and having chicken almost every night (until a month ago) since the beginning of my marriage.  Raw meat and me? We are totally BFF’s.  So why is it when I was taking out one of these Tofurky Sausages, I treated it like I was scraping roadkill off of the highway? (mind over matter, stupid!)

Very careful to not get any of the juices on me, I sliced it thin and threw it in a frying pan with a little Pam (since I’m trying to cut back on those oils!).  I cooked it up for a few minutes (following directions, it told me to make sure and NOT over cook it!), stirring occasionally.  Then I put some Classico Spicy Red Pepper tomato sauce in the pan.

Once it was hot (and I’m assuming it was done?) I put it over spaghetti squash and had myself a little taste of Italy.  What was the verdict on this meatless wonder?  Thumbs up!  It was a great “meat alternative”.  I will say that I chewed ever bite pretty slow so that there wouldn’t be any surprises that I wasn’t expecting.

I’ve really got to figure out how to use my camera correctly, these pictures are ridiculous!

This has opened up a door for me into the fake meat world.  I could totally see eating something like this once a week, and check out the nutrition facts:
Serving Size: One Sausage

Calories: 270 (not bad considering all I ate with it was spaghetti squash and tomato sauce)

Fat: 13 grams

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Carbohydrate: 12 grams

Dietary Fiber: 8 grams (Um, normal meat has NO fiber last time I checked)

Protein: 29 GRAMS!!! (who says that vegan’s have a hard time getting in their protein?!)

All in all I thought this experiment with meatless sausages would be a flop, but I have discovered one more ingredient to help add a rainbow of flavors to my diet!  Think what would happen if we opened ourselves up to ideas that at first didn’t seem that great?  Apparently, you could be missing out!

Have you tried any Alternative Meats? Like? Dislike?

What is one thing you opened yourself up to that you thought you would not like?  

3 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on January 31, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Good Food, Plant Based Diet, Protein, Vegan

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on January 31, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/01/31/adventures-in-meatless-cooking-dont-be-scared/

Let Me Ease Your Mind Part II

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 1 Hour

**On January 2nd I started the PCRM 21-day Vegan Kickstart Program.  The most common question I have been getting is where I am getting my protein, vitamin, and nutrients from.  The Let Me Ease Your Mind series was something I started to answer these questions and inform my readers about some of the health benefits of eating a vegan diet.  

  • If you haven’t read it, here is Part I (click to link)
Today’s PCRM Message is on “where am I getting my protein from?”:

“Beans and Greens”  seem to be the answer to the protein question.  I’m finding (and yes, this is quite obvious) that if you don’t like fruits and vegetables, a vegan diet is NOT for you.

I have found that protein has not been a problem for me.  On average, I’m getting about 60-70 grams of protein a day.  I could kick that number to around 100 if I added another Pea Protein shake in the afternoon.

I add black beans to a lot of my foods, and I have found that I love Brown Rice and beans.  The F &V’s I’ve been enjoying so far this week are:

  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Butternut Squash
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Avocado
  • Tomato’s
  • Green Beans
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Clementines
  • Oranges
  • Apples

I also have some great recipe’s in the works that I will share once I have tried them.  On average I eat about a cup of beans a day, and that coupled with my Pea Protein shakes that have 25 grams of protein per serving, I fulfilling my protein needs daily.

Is there is such a thing as eating TOO MUCH protein?  Yep, there sure is (found on Davey Wavey’s Website):

  1. Weight gain. Excess calories from excess protein may be stored as body fat.
  2. Intestinal irritation. Too much protein has been linked to constipation, diarrhea and/or excessive gas.
  3. Dehydration. Experts advise drinking a half gallon of water per 100 grams of protein.
  4. Seizures. Seizures have been linked to excess protein intake – but only if insufficient amounts of water are consumed.
  5. Increase in liver enzymes.
  6. Nutritional deficiencies. Just focusing on protein intake causes some high-protein dieters to overlook other nutrients. Ensure that your diet is balanced and nutritious.
  7. Risk of heart disease. This is a bit misleading. A healthy high-protein diet is not associated with heart disease. But if you are getting all of your protein from unhealthy sources that are loaded in unhealthy fats, obviously the risk for heart disease will increase.
  8. Kidney problems. Some believe that high protein and low carbohydrate diets – when done long term – can possibly cause kidney issues, but more research needs to be done.

I am finding that through daily tracking of my food, I am getting an adequate amount of protein to sustain my nutritional needs, especially with the amount that I work out, and if I wanted to kick it up a notch,  it probably wouldn’t hurt to add another Pea Protein shake as an afternoon snack.

Want some good reading on The Protein Myth (click to link)?  This is a GREAT article that explains everything you would want to know about Veganism and protein intake.

Do you have a problem getting in your protein for the day?
What is your main source of protein?

Leave a Comment
by Shrinking Carrie on January 5, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, Protein, Vegan

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on January 5, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/01/05/let-me-ease-your-mind-part-ii/

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 51 other followers