Did you know that 79% of all successful dieters cook most of their own meals at home (vs. eating out or buying pre-packaged food)
Even if you make every effort to order healthy when eating out, there is no guarantee that you are getting exactly what you think you’re getting. Something I always noticed is that scrambled egg whites always taste so much, so much more buttery in a restaurant than they do at home. So I began specifically asking them not to cook them in oil. And to tell you the truth, sometimes I can tell they follow my request and sometimes they don’t. It started to make me wonder how many other times this was happening and just what effect it was having on my weight loss goals at the time. Maybe you’ve had the same experience.
So here’s my point, controlling your food via making it yourself will make a HUGE difference in your results (and you’ll save money).
But, I know (believe me I know) how hard it is to try and make dinner every night, especially if you have children. You’re tired, you’re fresh outta new ideas, bored with everything you normally make and you’d rather just grab something on the run and sit down already and relax for crying out loud.
Well I have 3 things I want you to keep in mind, a couple of dinner suggestions and the recipe for what I am having for dinner tonight.
Keep these three things in mind:
1. You have a goal (make sure it’s specific and you visualize it daily). How bad do you want it? Every meal matters.
2. Planning ahead makes it sooooo much easier. When you know that once you walk through the door you have everything you need on hand to put dinner together quickly, you’ll be more motivated to sail right on past ‘In and Out Burger’.
3. Dinner does not have to be fancy, complicated or traditional.
Outta The Box Suggestions:
-Breakfast for dinner? Why not? I mean an egg white omelet with lots of veggies and diced up turkey ham is just as good for dinner as it is for breakfast. If you have kids, maybe not so many veggies throw in some toast with a low-sugar jelly and all will be happy.
-Sprinkle some lemon pepper and a touch of olive oil on chicken breast and fire up the George Foreman grill (if you don’t have one of those, seriously….go get one). Steam whatever vegetables you have on hand. Add a salad for you, rice or noodles with a sprinkle of parmesan for the rest of the family. Done.
-I love a sandwich. Use butter flavor cooking spray and grill up the bread, throw the meat in the hot pan for a minute once the bread is done and then put it on the bread and pile it up with vegetables. Have your sandwich open faced though. Sweet potato oven fries for the family and a salad for you (ok a SMALL handful of sweet potato fries for you too). Super easy, not fancy. But good, healthy and quick.
Recipe
Here’s what I’m having for dinner tonight. I like it ’cause it feels like comfort food, is healthy and quick. Note that it does have starchy carbs which I usually don’t recommend that my clients consume at dinner. But if you are doing a strenuous workout before dinner (like my boot camp) then by all means the starchy carbs will help you recover.
Enjoy!
Italian Sausage Rigatoni Florentine
- 1 pkg Jennie-o Turkey Italian Sausage
- 2 Cups whole-grain rigatoni pasta (they make these so good now. Your family won’t know the difference)
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 2 Cloves garlic minced (I always use the jarred minced garlic because it’s really easy)
- 1 Large red bell pepper, sliced or chunked
- 1 (26oz) jar of your favorite pasta sauce (look for lowest sugar per serving you can find)
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 2 Tbsp Freshly grated parmesan (optional)
1. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and heat up. Remove sausage from casing and break into large chunks while cooking (leave the pieces fairly large). Keep warm. Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni according to package directions.
2. In a large pan place olive oil and garlic and sauté lightly for 30 seconds. Add peppers and cook until they are tender crisp. Throw in spinach during the last minute of cooking peppers so it can begin to wilt but is not fully wilted. Combine sausage and pasta sauce with the pepper mixture and heat until warm. Mix with the pasta (or serve separately) and toss with a light sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan.