Hello Carbs!

So, this should be the week that I can begin to slowly add back in fruits and carbs.  I should be excited, but I'm scared.  I am not too nervous about the fruit, its the carbs that make me nervous.  Pasta, popcorn, bread, These are the foods that made me fat, and now I'm supposed to add them back into my diet?

I am nervous that once I start I won't be able to stop myself.  I know that the best way to make sure this doesn't happen is to plan out my meals, but I'm scared to bring carbs back into my house.  I really miss pasta and popcorn so one of those will probably be the carb I add back in.  As for the fruit, I just can't choose.  I love fruit.  I love fruit the way I love carbs.  I could eat fruit for every meal.  Pre-South Beach I used to eat apples and peanut butter for lunch all the time.  Strawberries are yummy too, but they are not in season.  Grapefruits are delightful, but do I really want to be limited to just them for an entire week?  Bananas are out, they are too high in sugar, but oh so yummy.

So stay tuned for my decisions on how to ease into Phase 2.  For most of this week I will probably stick with my Phase 1 foods until I can decide on a plan that works for me.  I WILL, however, be adding milk back into my diet because I REALLY miss my mealtime beverage of choice.

I was pleased to be able to stick to SBD so well last week.  I did cheat once, on Friday, but it was a pretty big cheat.  On Friday night I went to eat at Don's Alley with my husband and another couple from our Sunday School class.  If you have never eaten there before, you should.  They make amazing home cooked food!  They also make huge rolls that are amazing and every meal comes with one.  For dinner Friday night I had pot roast with mashed potatoes and fried okra.  I ate the roll and put real butter on it.  I also dipped my okra in ketchup.  Now that I have confessed my diet sins let's move onto something I did right diet wise.

In defense of my cheating, I was pretty sick last week and food just didn't sound good until Friday.  Normally when I'm sick I eat ramen, pop corn and other carb-ey foods.  This week I was able to stick to lean proteins and green veggies, until Friday.  Another thing I like to have when I'm sick is my mother-in-law's chicken noodle soup.  Her recipe comes from a family recipe that traveled all the way from Italy to Oklahoma.  Her version has a few SBD no-no's:  carrots, white potatoes, lots of tomatoes, and pasta.  Here is my SBD version.

Mere's Chicken Soup Cure-All

Ingredients:

• 1 small-medium sized Chicken
• 1 bulb Garlic
• 2 Yellow Onions
• 1 head of Broccoli
• 1/2 package of Celery
• 1 bunch of Kale (you could add any greens, but these looked the best 
• at Walmart when I was picking up ingredients for soup)
• 1 bunch Italian Parsley
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce (no sugar)
• Garlic Salt
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• Basil
• Sage
• Oregano
• Worcestershire Sauce 

Directions

1. Dice the onions, chop the garlic into small pieces and put inside a large stock pot.  I used the whole bulb of garlic because I like garlic and because I was sick and garlic is a natural antibiotic.  Though normally I only put in 4-6 cloves.  Trim the broccoli florets from the rabe, then chop the rabe into thin slices and add to the stockpot.  Chop the celery and the parsley and add these to the pot as well.  Add the tomato sauce, cover with water and bring to a boil.  While bringing vegetables to a boil add the garlic salt, sea salt, pepper, basil, sage, oregano and worcestershire sauce to the pot.
2. While the vegetables are coming to a boil, de-skin the chicken and trim off any excess fat.  When the water has come to a boil add the chicken.  Lower the heat to a simmer and cook the chicken until the chicken is cooked through or a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit.  My chicken took about 45 minutes to cook through.
3. When the chicken is done remove it from the pot and pick the meat from the bones.  Chop the meat and add it back to the still simmering pot.  Chop the kale into 1 inch pieces and add it to the pot.  Cook for about 10 minutes or until the kale is bright green and cooked.
4. Serve immediately.

This makes a lot of soup.  My husband teases me about the amount whenever I make it.  You can put some into containers to freeze, but at our house this disappears fairly quickly.  I credit this soup with my quick recovery from what was a very nasty cold.  I started getting sick on Monday morning and by Friday I was feeling much better.  You can add any seasonings and vegetables you like.  These were what I used this time.

I am excited to weigh in this week to see if I've lost more weight.