It’s What I Ate Wednesday!!! My visual food journal for everyone to see, well at least one day anyway. 🙂 Thanks to our host Jen from Peas and Crayons for the WIAW linky party!

Hope you’ve had a great start to your week and are ready to enjoy the rest! I LOVE Wednesdays because it is one of the only days we aren’t running in a million directions.

Last week was hard for me as my hubby was gone on a business trip from Monday until Saturday. REALLY not easy without him and 3 kids but we got through it. I cooked simple things that the kiddies liked and were easy to make, also had left overs too from the weekend. Woot Woot to left overs!

Larger meals aren’t needed except when the hubby is home. 🙂

These are my new individual Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal recipe which thankfully I had left overs from since I made them on the weekend. Super easy to make and easy to heat up for busy mornings! Everyone is happy because you can add your own special topping prior to baking making them the perfect personalized breakfast for picky family members.

No snacks while we work all morning doing school so this was lunch. Pre-cooked quinoa mixed with sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and chicken with a little extra virgin olive oil and salt. On the side is some spinach hummus and carrots. I am a hummus lover for sure, I could eat it by the spoonfuls without anything else so I make sure to spoon amount some on my plate and put the container BACK in the fridge or I will surely continue to dip into it.

I totally needed a snack by the afternoon but I also needed caffeine. I had forgotten I had made these in my freezer and recently took them out and remembered oh yes!!

Coffee and cocoa on a stick!! Yep…… new posted recipe just this past week and it was in my freezer for a few weeks!  Oh and they have protein too!!!

Here’s the link: Low Carb Mocha Protein Popsicles!

I forgot to take a picture for dinner but it was left overs from this that the hubby had grilled on Sunday before he left on his trip on Monday to Oklahoma City. So I was happy to have these few left overs of pork chops, red potatoes and zucchini and squash.

I was craving something salty in the evening so I opted to mix up 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, no sugar added all natural kind, with plain nonfat Greek yogurt and threw on some toasted sunflower seeds too.

Hit.the.spot. I was content and called it a night!

Currently I am trying to limit the night snacks so I can lose about 5 pounds I’ve been struggling with recently, but every so often I allow myself some.  I try to watch the carbs because for me that just packs on pounds especially when I eat them at night.

Don’t get me wrong I do eat healthy carbs and am not carb free nor do I want to be, but for my body and years of experience, reducing and eliminating carbs helps me to lose the few pounds faster and even maintain the weight loss I’ve achieved through occasional carbs at night.

How about you? Do you find a difference when you limit carbs at night if you are trying to lose weight?

The post What I Ate Wednesday #6 & Thoughts On Carbs appeared first on Sugar-Free Mom.

Welcome to week 6 of Slim & Sensible Support!

This week is all about carbohydrates!!

Are you a lover of carbs? Are some of your comfort foods pasta, potatoes or breads?

I can totally relate as my favorite carbs are french fries, pasta and breads. Although my homemade french fries are fabulously healthier and baked and better then buying them or going out to eat, but I still want more than an average portion. My pasta choices have changed to eating brown rice or whole wheat pasta as opposed to standard white flour pasta, but guess what? I still want more than a cups worth. I make healthy choices when purchasing breads only buying the whole wheat kind without sugars, but if I gave myself no limits I’d be choosing bread at every meal because it’s just a comfort food for me. Can you relate?

I’m not boycotting carbohydrates here today. They are good for you and appropriate in a well balanced diet. I do boycott refined carbohydrates like white flour pasta, white bread and all sugary pastries and baked goods. They are a big waste of empty calories and make you crave all the more!

Here’s a great Carbohydrate Chart of healthy foods rich in good carbs your body needs.

Today we won’t be talking about simple and complex carbs [that will be for another post]. Learning what carbs effect your body negatively or what trigger a reaction of wanting more is what I felt was on my heart to share today with you.

During the time of my weight loss journey back in 2004 I had to limit certain carbohydrates because I knew they would just continue to be difficult for me. I would always crave more. So I eliminated them for a short period and then brought them back to see if I could handle a small portion. For some things it worked, for others I learned the hard way I still have to limit today.

Here’s are the carbohydrates I have some trouble with even though I have healthified them.

• all potatoes as a french fry
• healthy muffins
• healthy breads
• homemade pizza
• brown rice
• whole wheat or brown rice pasta

Here are other carbohydrates I can enjoy without trouble of overeating:

• oatmeal
• quinoa
• barely
• millet
• fruits and vegetables

I don’t know about you but I actually do better with limits. I have more discipline knowing how much I should have or need in my life to lose weight or maintain. I like to follow rules. I am a rule follower, always have been. So I follow 2 rules which has not only helped me lose the weight I needed to lose, but has helped me to keep the weight off….. give or take a few pounds. 🙂

Here are 2 simple rules I live by for carbohydrate happiness!

1. No More than 2-3 carbs in any one day. ( Not including veggies and fruit)
2. No more than 3 times a week from the difficult carb list.

So I encourage you to make a list of carbohydrates that are your triggers or are difficult to have an appropriate portion of and make a list of carbs that you have no trouble with. Try my simple rules for a week and let me know if it makes a difference for you over the next week.

This week I was reminded how much carbohydrates have had a hold on me, thus the topic was as much speaking to me as I was to you today. I’d rather have a bread for lunch than a salad, because it is often easier to make a sandwich then make a healthy salad, right? Right! I’m not saying a sandwich is bad for you, but for me I tend to just overdose on breads and honestly I really don’t get filled up by a sandwich. Making food ahead has been a great help in making better choices.

Some of my make ahead recipes I love that provide a few days worth of healthy filling lunches:

• Quinoa Chicken Cherry Salad
• Toasted Barley Salad
• Quinoa Edamame Feta Salad
• Citrus Fennel Salad
• Lentil & Escarole Turkey Stew
• Crock Pot Chicken & Bean Stew
• Mango Quinoa Black Bean Salad
• Slow Cooker Four Bean Chili
• Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Avocado Dressing

 Your turn!!

Can you relate to overdoing your carb intake? Do you need to limit carbs? How was your last week? Any progress to share?

Week 5: 3 Signs of Portion Distortion

The post Slim & Sensible Saturday Support wk6: 2 Simple Carbohydrate Rules appeared first on Sugar-Free Mom.