Metabolic Meltdown

I have been getting alot of questions from my friends these days about what they should eat? I am not a nutritionist or some health food fanatic but my life does seem to revolve around food and cooking has always been a passion of mind oops mine. I hate bland and boring except if I'm sick and I am a big stickler for color and spice and texture. Ok, so once again I digress from the topic...
So let's face it most of my friends are on the north side of 45 and most have us have waived good-bye to 50 and we are eating less and weighing more...ouch!!!! Now there is all this talk of BMI and stomach fat, and sugar killing us and fake sugar making us crazier than real sugar and you can eat butter but don't eat butter and yes carbs and no carbs and some fish but watch out for the fish that eat the fish (more mercury), organic, the dirty dozen...eggs and or no eggs. Through out all of this I have managed to stay pretty consistent. Not as thin as I once was but not horribly out of control and basically maintaining a decently healthy lifestyle. I also like to work out since I like to eat alot and I am a sweet- aholic my god you would think this is a 12 step program.
Oh and one more new kick I am on is to get rid of all the High Fructose corn syrup that you can there is a theory that this stuff screws your metabolism up big time. The HFC is in addition to getting rid of trans fat.....

There is no rocket science to any of this:

Figure out what you like to eat and it cant be all junk and disgustingly bad for you food!
Start out with at least 3 options of each meal type (I find I am much better with protein in the am than just cereal)

Breakfast-200-300 calorie options
Wasa Crisps (Light) with cottage cheese and greek yougurt and a small amount of
light jam (i like pumpkin butter), or p-nut butter(for me it is a trigger so not very often) or believe it or not Hummus with a piece of turkey and roasted red peppers
One egg with one egg white or egg beaters or egg whites seasoned with salt,pepper
hot chili flakes or hot sauce, microwaved or done in a pan sprayed with spray oil
with low sodium canadian bacon on a whole wheat pita toasted (70cal) or a 100
calorie multi-grain english muffin with a sprinkle of reduced fat shredded cheese.
This works the best for me.

Other options-oatmeal, fruit and yougurt (preferably plain mixed with a little light
brand of yougurt) topped with some cereal (kashi heart to heart, flax-plus etc..)
cereal with fruit (healthy cereals)

coffee, with milk get the calcium in. get one of the little milk mixers and foam the
milk... skim lattes are our friends... I am into light vanilla soy milk

Snacks always have some protein with the snack. I know you have heard this before...
For example when you eat fruit have a few nuts or some string cheese, cottage cheese,p-nut butter etc... Or a couple of the wasa crisps with turkey and I have some alternative crackers that i love these days.

Lunch eat a bigger meal if you can (like they do in Europe) and eat a smaller dinner, but if dinner is still your thing make sure Lunch is full of fiber and don't glop on the dressings, (love the spray dressings but check the ingredients) and whole grain bread not white, try one piece not two skip the chips unless sharing a few with a friend, try and skip the cheese (save it for a snack), add veggies, mustard, hot sauce, hot peppers etc.. and be a pain in the neck and ask for everything on the side...Oh one more thing soup is always a great starter but not the creamy cheesy kind. There are lots of ways to thicken soup but that is better done at home and that is for another post.

For example i go to CPK and by the time I am done they should just bring the ingredients to the table and I can make my own salad....

1/2 Thai Crunch Salad hold the wontons, peanuts and dressing on the side plus some fat-free balsamic and chop sticks...love those chop sticks they make sure i get 20 minutes out of the salad..that is the time it takes for your brain to register you are full...I do try and make fun of myself while i obnoxiously order this way so they know I realize how neurotic i am. Hey metabolisms of 50+ year old women are not kind!!!!

Dinner protein veggies and salad if you can pass on the starch at dinner great if not and you will be grazing until midnight without it try and make it the smallest part of your meal.

Dessert generally not on the agenda unless it is fruit. Better to have your dessert at 4pm snack with some tea or coffee but try and go for some fruit a piece of dark chocolate a little light ice cream (if little is in your vocab!) While they have all of these 100 calorie choices and low sugar puddings and jello's when you read what is in them i would use them as sparingly as possible. Believe me i use to be totally in to them but i find them as scary as smoking (i use to do that too 22 years ago) I will try and hit some of the things that I do in later posts. Mostly I try and plan for dessert.

This said I still find sweets my toughest area (surprise, surprise) and I would say I have to budget 200-300 calories a day for junk. So I exercise, breathe and try and be a good friend to myself ( a novel approach). If you focus on health, strength and the really important things in life worrying about what you are eating or no longer able to eat will take care of itself and not be such a major issue.

I think the hardest thing is the reality of portions. The truth is we really don't need a whole lot on a daily basis (unless you are a marathoner...)and you really have to be open to a 3 week mindset change. You have to be a little chill, which I am not, but I am working at it.

Oh yeah one last thing... drink alot and not alcohol, water, tea, coffee (watch the caffeine)try and back off the soda and mix juices with water etc...

I wrote out a plan for my son last year and I will try and clean it up for my next posts. As well as put in some of my recipes and what I buy at the grocery store so I can keep my options open.