This is week one of four that I’m undertaking a Healthy Eating Challenge. (In case you missed it, here’s the kickoff post).
– here are the menu plans upon which I’m basing my dinners
– Here is a PDF of some of the recipes mentioned in the menu plans
I did a small shop this afternoon and I bought the fixings for two dinners as well as some other Blue Menu products that were on my radar.
FYI – and this is more for my benefit than yours – I’m logging my food intake for the next few weeks over on this page. I didn’t want to bore everyone to tears with my routine breakfast choices and bite-by-bite accounts of Every Single Meal. You may peruse if you like, but as I said, it’s mostly a space for me to keep track of things. (Speaking of which, I realized I am very happy eating the same breakfast every single day. Are you the same, or do you need to shake it up?)
I had a quickie phone conversation last week with a Loblaws communications person and a registered dietician. I found out there was a change in plan that was a wee bit disappointing. My original understanding was that I was to meet with a dietician in person and that s/he was going to set us up with a customised menu plan based on our needs and health goals. Alas, that was not to be the case. This is how it’s going to go: (1) there is a website (2) I create my own plan based on the information on the website (3) I do the shopping and the cooking.
I’m okay with that. I’m confident that it will all work out. The dietician is available if I have questions. I am picking and choosing what suits us best. The good thing about the website is that it’s easy to search and provides a great starting point in terms of menu planning.
My lunch today included a serving of PC Blue Menu lentil soup. It was a winner, which is a big surprise because I practically had to force myself to buy it.
I don’t like lentils. I have avoided them for years, mostly because of a childhood incident concerning a plateful of lentils that was served to me in thick green dill sauce and felt like eating hot, wet, grass stew.
Thus, I grew up believing that Lentils Had to Be Avoided At All Costs. And I did pretty good at avoiding them.
But back to the soup. Surprise! Lentils! They were actually very good (and no dill – ha!) I’m a convert. Did you know there’s some good fibre in lentils? This is power food folks. Eating FIBRE-rich fods is a very sneaky way of eating your way to better health. You should try it. Increase the amount of daily fibre you’re eating -you should aim for something like 25-35 grams – and you’re less likely to feel munchy as the day goes on. Also: did you know that the humble lentil is the vegetable with the highest level of protein other than soybean?
As I ate I also remembered that a great way to eat low-cal/healthily (for me) is to notch up the heat factor. Adding spice adds lots of flavour without adding lots of calories. The soup was fine on its own, but a couple of drops of habanero sauce really made it sing.
Anyway, I’m thinking of plotting all of our hits and misses on some kind of chart, but I’m going to have to think about that some more. Stay tuned.
