Tonight we had home made pasta sauce with ground turkey and DreamField Spaghetti pasta. Now DreamField pasta Co. claims to have only 5 grams of digestible carbs. I am not sure how they can claim this? I have read their packaging and I have reviewed their website but I am not sure how they can claim this?

If anyone knows please let us know. Until then I will just believe the packaging…

I will try and post the South Beach Diet pasta sauce recipe we have created.

Technorati Tags: pasta sauce, ground turkey, DreamField Spaghetti pasta, carbs, South Beach Diet, pasta sauce recipe

In Josh’s last post he mentions our menu planning. We try to plan out our meal for the week, during the weekend. If we don’t do this, I usually run out of ideas by the middle of the week. Which results in Josh coming home to no dinner or canned food. LOL!

Seriously, just plain sauteed chicken and veggies or hamburger patties. That can be kind of boring, though… Fortunately for us, with all the tax deadline pressure, we were able to plan our meals for this week. Today’s dinner was Chicken asparagus w/three cheeses It was outstanding! Even the baby loved it… I did make a couple of changes to the recipe, but not pertinent ones. I used chicken thighs instead of breasts. I am not a huge fan of chicken breasts. I can have them but not on a regular basis. They tend to be too dry.

I prefer boneless skinless chicken thighs. Then I take off every piece of fat, nerves and tendons. I also didn’t have poultry seasoning so I kind of made up my own. Salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, a little cumin and paprika. Everything else was the same and everyone loved it. I will definitely add this to our regular dinner options. Delicious!

Technorati Tags: Josh, sauteed chicken, tax deadline, chicken breasts

Tonight we are going to try “Slow Cooker BBQ ribs” from Kraft.

We will have to modify it of course to fit the South Beach Diet Plan. Here is the original ingredient list:

4 lb. beef short ribs
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup KRAFT Barbecue Sauce, any flavor
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard

Here are the modifications.
Kraft carbwell BBQ sauce. The label says ok for phase 1, 2 and 3 of South Beach Diet.
No honey
½ flour (This is a big cheat! If you want to stay 100% on SBD then just do not add the flour)

Technorati Tags: Slow Cooker BBQ ribs, South Beach Diet Plan, KRAFT Barbecue Sauce, Kraft carbwell BBQ sauce, SBD

We had Parmesan Chicken from a recipe we found in Kalyn’s Kitchen:
http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2005/11/parmesan-chicken.html
It was delicious and we really enjoyed it. However, we used chicken thighs instead of breasts. Also, Kalyn says to marinade all day, but unfortunately, I didn’t have that kind of time. I marinated our chicken for 45 minutes to an hour. I think something is better than nothing. If it was this good, on short time of marinating, hmmm…. I wonder how it tastes if you do it all day? It’s easy and tasty; a must try!

Technorati Tags: Parmesan Chicken, Kalyn’s Kitchen, marinated our chicken

This is simple, tasty and South Beach Diet approved recipe. Be careful when choosing your vanilla. Many brands have added sugar. I was able to find plain vanilla with no sugar at my local grocery store.

Low Carb Yogurt Recipe:
¾ cup Trader Joe’s Non Fat Plain Yogurt
½ a pack of Sweet and Low
¼ teaspoon of Vanilla (No Sugar added)
Optional/seasonal
2 or 3 sliced Fresh Strawberries

Add all ingredients except the berries and stir until it reaches the desired consistency and then add the strawberries.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: South Beach Diet, vanilla, Low Carb Yogurt Recipe, Trader Joe’s Non Fat Plain Yogurt, Sweet and Low, Fresh Strawberries

Sorry for the lack of updates. Between work and family life with a two year old, time is limited. Also, I have decided since I have officially finished Phase One of the South Beach Diet I would stop charting my exact daily menus, etc… and focus on more general aspects of the diet and what Phase Two means to going forward.

Phase two has started but I am still sticking with the Phase One diet. For many its to restrictive but I am fine with it plus I now weight 151. I have dropped 13 pounds since I started this diet, but more importantly I have lost about two inches on my waist. My “tight” pants now feel fine and my old “loose” pants are now really loose.

Lilly has lost 5 pounds in the same time period. I think she is a little discouraged, but I try and tell her it’s actually a good sign. Here’s my logic. On the SBD they say the first fat to go is “Belly Fat”. She has very little and I had much more. My fat sits right on my waist. Her’s like many women goes to the thighs. So the fact that she has not lost as much as me means she had less Belly Fat to loose.

We will move to Phase Two probably in a day or two. Lilly and I spoke about phase three and we agreed that we would like to try and make this our life style. However we are adding one modification to the diet. Once we hit both our target weights then we will allow ourselves to have a “cheat day.” This will allow us to indulge once a while and curb our need to binge. The problem with all diets is they ask us to cut out the things we love to eat. It has been proven time and time again, from one diet to another; people will eventually fall off the wagon.

We plan on staying on the wagon by having a livable diet which in fact is life style choice. Diets in the long term do not work! In my eyes we should kill the diet and focus on a healthy life style.

We will include:
Follow the SBD mentality on good carbohydrates and sugar
Exercise
Portion moderation
Allow for cheat days.

Technorati Tags: South Beach Diet, Phase Two, Phase One diet, Belly Fat, healthy life style

Today I decide to stick with the rules of phase one, so I did not introduce any new carbs into my diet. I think I will stay on phase one for a couple more days and then start adding back the healthy carbs, as Dr. Agatston would reference it. My reason is I am doing so well on phase one and don’t really miss the carbs might as well take off a few more pounds and get with in a couple pounds of my maintenance weight.

I again missed my after noon snack so when I got home I was starving. Not good. I need to force my self into eating all my snacks.

Technorati Tags: phase one, new carbs, diet, healthy carbs, Dr. Agatston

Phase one is over!!!! I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. I am 4 pounds from my target weight. So we start phase two of the south beach diet, but we have decided to stick to the rules of phase one for a few more days in hopes of just skipping phase two all together.

Breakfast: Yogurt with Splenda and vanilla

Snack: Celery with Peanut butter

Lunch: Turkey burgers with no bun

Snack: none

Dinner: Chicken breast with herbs and bleu cheese

Technorati Tags: south beach diet, phase one, Splenda, Peanut butter