Salsa, Eggs, and Spinach: Use a low or no sugar added salsa.

Salsa Spinach and Eggs for two. This is the slow carb diet breakfast that helped me loose 20 pounds!

Actually, as of today I have lost 19 pounds since December 17, 2010 and we will see on January 17, 2011 if I really did loose 20 pounds in 30 days. Of course my goal is to be 155 pounds by this summer. So I have months more of eating this way day-to-day. But beyond I am going to eat this way for life. It is simple and easy and filling! This slow carb recipe for breakfast is for two, simply cut it in half for one.

Add about 1 cup of frozen spinach. Sometimes I add a splash of water to keep the spinach from drying out as it thaws.

It only takes minutes to make and yes the instructions are on the pictures. I don’t measure which makes this faster to throw together.

I use organic brown eggs. If I am making it for one person, myself, I use only two to three brown eggs. Generally I buy my organic brown eggs at Costco or Whole Foods Market. Most grocery stores have them in stock. If you are using white eggs, they are usually larger, so do three to four egg whites and one whole egg (for flavor).

Six small brown organic eggs, dash of salt, and garlic powder, whipped!

Yes, this might seem monotonous, the same breakfast everyday, day in day out. But if you look at your breakfast habits, how many of you actually eat a different breakfast everyday. The reality is that you usually are driving through breakfast ordering your favorite breakfast burrito or sandwich and you rarely stray from that breakfast. So creating two or three breakfast meals like this one helps to keep you on track.

It is actually faster than a drive through and a lot cheaper. The combination of vegetables and protein keeps hunger at bay until noon easily. In fact if you are finding your self hungry before noon, add an extra egg the next day. That simple addition of protein will do wonders.

Pour eggs into skillet with spinach.

In fact if I am hungry for a snack in the late evening before bed. I will make a one or two egg version of this. It fills me up and keeps me on the meal plan.

This is how I start each and everyday, no fuss.

Let it cook through for a minute or so.

Scramble: Then set on a plate as above and top with salsa. Your breakfast is ready to eat.

I just cleaned my refrigerator! Make sure on your cheat days you throw away the Pig Out foods, look at the stack of Chinese in the back!

Pork Out Days and Cheat Meals are a fabulous way to reward yourself for sticking to your lifestyle change and fool your body’s automatic response to famine by clinging to fat. When you pork out and cheat correctly, you are super-charging your weight loss and propelling yourself to your goals. As we know just making a little progress towards a goal is going to flood our body with feel good endorphins

The same is true when we Pork Out or Cheat beyond our scheduled cheat opportunities. Except for the flooding process our body responds to is not feel good endorphins, it is a shame spiral of doubt and self-hatred. Can you hear it coursing through your body and screaming, “Why the hell did you eat that? Your weak”.

Oh yeah, I hear it! I have heard it! I will hear it again. What about you? Have you heard it? How many times have we responded with, ‘Well I already ate the mashed potatoes that came with my steak, so I might as well eat desert’. The sneaky little voice of doubt that you allow to sabotage you efforts is beginning to win again. The rewards of eating are so powerful and instantaneous.

Let’s look at four situations when we are likely to cheat and the Ten Tools we can use to overcome cheating and out of control eating!.

Situation 1: How many times have you woke up in the morning and walked through the kitchen to your desk, sat at your computer to quickly check survey the day. Next thing you know you are late for work, need to shower, or you spent hours working from home and you missed breakfast. Your body is experiencing a ‘low sugar’ moment and you need fuel quick! So run to the kitchen throw open the freezer and throw two breakfast burritos into the microwave while you are chugging orange juice. Can you spell GLUCOSE OVERLOAD? I hope so, you just added to the fat cell count of your body. “But it was just a breakfast burrito and OJ”, Your right and you just made an investment in the Fat Cell Bank, based on a high Glycemic Index and you reward is an over flowing Fat Cell Account!

Situation 2: You are attending a planned dinner party with friends and work colleagues. You get there early to make a good impression and the hours slip by. You were informed that there would be plenty of healthy options and by time dinner is served and the cocktail ‘hours’ have passed you are starving. The health fish option is ‘buttered scallops with white rice and buttered vegetables’. Great you’re starving an a plateful ‘no’ has been set in front of you!

 Situation 3: You are at a movie and it going to be a long one, you skip down to the movie theatre snack bar and look at their offerings. How can you go to a movie and not eat ‘buttered popcorn’? Plus popcorn must be washed down with 40 ounces of your favorite soda. Top that off with a large box of your favorite movie candy and you can handle the almost three-hour movie. I guess this sugar and processed fat binge just became an additional non-planned cheat meal.

Situation 4:  Is the ‘I don’t do breakfast’ or ‘I don’t do lunch’, excuse that people throw out as a reason why eating well won’t work. They act like they are some type of ‘different’ human, than the rest of us. The reason they don’t need as much fuel in the morning as the rest of us is that they over eat at night and their body is still processing food in the morning. Trust me I know!

Situation 4: It is late at night and your family and you are watching a movie and the kids slip into the kitchen. They come back with Velveeta and salsa heated in a bowl and huge bag of tortilla chips. Well it is family night, why not join the fun?

The deal is that these situations happen every day in all of our lives. None of us are ‘special’ or have über ‘special lives’ that create situations or needs. We just put way too much emphasis on them as excuses. We need tools to control our excuses and here are the 10 Tools I use to control my weight loss!

Tool Number 1: Clean your kitchen of all foods not on the meal plan

Start with your refrigerator and move to your pantry. Throw away or donate to a less fortunate family all foods that are not on the approved menu plan. This is the easiest change to make in your life and it is the most important one. If it is not in the house you won’t eat it. So go through the pantry and every drawer and the freezer on the back porch and throw away the crap!  Don’t wait till tomorrow, do it today!

Tool Number 2: Tell Your Family, “No Processed Foods Allowed in the House”

You are the parent or the spouse and you get to make decisions not only about what you eat but also about what your kids eat. More than likely your spouse is in need of a diet change. Put your foot down at a family meeting and outline the new rules for eating at home. Let them know that one day a week is a family cheat day and that each week the family will plan to cheat together or separately, but that the food offered in this house from now on is healthy. Not only will you be changing your life you will be changing your family’s.

Tool Number 3: Curb the Crave, “Eat before you eat out!

You know you are going to be out eating with friends and you know that you are going to be out for hours, so before you leave the house have a dose of protein. Scramble two eggs and top with salsa. Have a half a cup or a little more of full fat cottage cheese and a tomato right before you leave the house. Eating a dose of protein will curb the cravings for at least three to four hours allowing you plenty of time to order correctly at the restaurant.

Once you are out the door and on your way anything can happen and does happen. A little advance eating of protein allows you to keep rabid hunger at bay plus you end up eating less when food is served. It is OK to leave food on your plate.  

Tool Number 4: The Condiment Conundrum: Eat Clean

Condiments , sauces and dressings can be filled with fats, sugars, and carbohydrates. They can raise your blood glucose levels even if you are eating grilled meat and vegetables. There is going to be a certain amount of sugar in foods when you order out. Make sure you order clean! Look at the menu and question your server. Make sure your condiments at home are dry and your dressings are healthy choices made with healthy ingredients. No excuses just eat clean,

Tool Number 5  – Eat Protein and Nutrition Dense Foods Every Few Hours

Cravings tend to spiral out of control when we let hours pass and we fail to eat. Make sure you have a daily food schedule for what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it. If you find yourself getting hungry, go ahead and have a small meal with protein and vegetables. I find  a half cup of cottage cheese and a sliced tomato does the trick. Or try natural almond butter or natural peanut butter on celery sticks.

In fact you can serve celery and peanut butter to kids at night. Try dipping celery into salsa. The crispy-crunch of a chip with salsa and unlimited pleasure.

Tool Number 6: Always Keep a Healthy Snack Handy

Never leave the house without access to healthy snack foods. No what to grab when you forget and run into a quickie market for a snack. Make sure your choices are healthy. Choose or carry with you raw nuts, sliced turkey, hard-boiled eggs, or a true low carbohydrate high protein bar.

If you are going to be in airports all day make sure you pack your carry on with plenty of options. You are in control when you plan ahead.

Tool Number 7: Choose a Good Whole Food Nutritional Supplement

Eating nutrient dense foods like beans, greens and lean proteins is your daily goal but that may not be enough to meet the demands of a healthy and active lifestyle. Your body sends signals to your brain in the form of cravings when you are not getting enough of a certain type of food or nutrient found in that food. So you need to arm your body daily with a great whole food supplement. I choose to eat Athletic Greens. I do a scoop in the morning and one in the evening. I simply swirl it in water and drink. It fulfills all of my daily needs and my cravings for specific-foods, has greatly diminished. Plus there is a burst of energy and clarity that comes from a good food supplement.

Tool Number 8:  Get Moore Sleep

I have the worst sleeping habits of anyone I know and this is a daily challenge for me. I bet I am not alone. But if you want to lose more weight get more sleep. Your body relies on rest to regulate hormones and when your hormones are not regulated during rest, your weird cravings and night bingeing occurs. When you are awake and bored you eat. Trust me I know this personally. I love to stay awake and watch movies and eat.

Sleep aids metabolism, mood, and hormones. We can’t say enough about getting better sleep habits going. Plus crawling into bed early may just improve your sex life!

Tool Number 9: Schedule Your Pork Out Day and or Your Two Cheat meals

I have done blog post on this and I have posted pictures of this! It is imperative that you cheat at least one full day and or two full meals each and every week. You cannot skip the cheat day or your body will hit a plateau and hold on to fat. Last week I lost four pounds even with a cheat day! Yesterday was another cheat day, but today I am back on the plan.

Pig Out and Cheat your way thin!

Tool 10 – Every Day, Every Meal is a Fresh Start

Why do we let food win? Why do we let one bad choice where food is consumed derail us for weeks and months at a time? Why do we let one cupcake become years of ice cream before we go to bed? Why do we insist on killing ourselves with food?

Because it feels so good going down!!!!

We are going to cheat! That is the truth of changing our lives. We are going to succumb to temptations. They key is are we going to let our brief lapse spiral out of control like Kirstie Alley at a theme park bouncing from the County Fair BBQ to the Fried Snickers on a Stick day after day until we are shopping for clothes the local camping store, looking for a tent with enough canvass to cover our fat ass.

We have to root in our life plan the ability to look at each bite of food as a Fresh Start. We can’t allow ourselves to lose the war because we lost a brief battle with a Twinkie. We must always cling to our ability to have a Fresh Start with each new bite. 

So there you have it! My Top 10 Tools for speeding up weight loss. Hope it inspires you to clean out the refrigerator and take control of your families eating habits.