Week 14: Rachael experiments in the kitchen — and succeeds!

Hi Skinny friends,

I feel like there are so many things that I’ve learned on my weight loss journey. I really have started to look at food in a new and different way. Food used to be comfort. And I have a lot of memories associated with food — learning to bake Christmas cookies with my mom; making my first Thanksgiving turkey for my friends our first year out of college — so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But the new element of comfort that I am getting from food is that it’s fuel. Food is full of goodness that helps my body run. And right now I want the cleanest and purest foods to run my new little improved machine! But this new outlook doesn't mean I don’t have fun with food. I love cooking, and now I love finding new ways to make the foods I love in healthy ways.

Alex and I love making Sunday brunch. It used to consist of pancakes, but this week I made a healthy breakfast hash with sweet potato, onion, spinach, and a little lean ground turkey. I served it with a side of scrambled egg whites and some GG crackers to sop up the yummy goodness. It was wonderful, and we still felt like we were indulging without actually cheating from the diet.


Cookies? I still make them! But now I use Splenda and whole wheat flour. But I’m still pretty restrictive with the number of sweets and carbs I eat, so I try to save those indulgences for special occasions. Now if I want to treat myself and still keep to my diet, I make meringues! (Click here for the recipe.) They have literally three ingredients: egg whites, Splenda, and vanilla. How wonderful is that?



This diet is about the new me, but it doesn't mean I have to lose the old me. I still love food, and I still love cooking. I just needed to adjust my outlook (and recipes!).

 

How do you find ways to make and eat the things you love, while still sticking to a healthy diet?