A Special Post for a Special Lady

So I have been thinking about how hard it would be to have only 18 points to work with in a day. It would be SO difficult to not have extra points to snack with. I was lying awake in bed tonight thinking about what I would do. I thought of two different things. The first one is to cut down on the amount of points in your meals, the second is to have some 0 or 1 point snacks around. I know I have already put most of my ideas up here, but I thought of a few more.

After starting Weight Watchers, I had to kind of change my attitude about fruits and vegetables. I always thought of them (veggies especially) as a healthy afterthought to compliment a meal. But, veggies are very nutritious and filling and most of them don't take any of your points. Instead of having them as a side dish, you can make them the main event! Or, have very little of your "dinner" and fill up on your veggies. Start adding a salad, apple, etc. to EVERY meal or snack. That way you can have less of the points food and still feel satisfied - leaving points for dessert! A few examples of making veggies the main event:

1) I don't usually eat cheese on Weight Watchers because it is SO high points, but sometimes I crave something cheesy. I get the Normandy Blend of frozen vegetables at Costco. It has broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Sometimes for lunch, I just steam up a HUGE bowl of veggies and cover them with cheese. It works because, even though cheese is high points, it's the only thing with points in the whole meal. I curb my craving, stay on track, and have a healthy meal all at the same time.

2) Rice is high points so instead of having a bed of rice with stirfry on top, we have a bunch of stirfry with a little rice. I really never liked the actual rice that much anyway. And that way you can put chicken with it and get your protein in too!

3) Replace rice with ground-up cauliflower like I made for you. For everyone else, I'll put the recipe up here soon.

4) A nice little lunch would be a bowl of zero point soup and a piece of one-point toast. Progresso has a few vegetable soups that are zero points per serving. That way, your whole lunch is only one point! Who wants dessert?? =)

5) Salads, salads, salads. Salads don't always have to be made with lettuce. I like to get a bag of pre-packaged cole slaw and follow the instructions for the dressing on the bag. If you use fat free mayo, the finished product is zero points. You can add some chicken or eat it with a piece of one-point toast or some low-point crackers. It's really easy too. Also, I think I have posted this recipe before, but I'm going to do it again. I often have a huge bowl of this made in my fridge and I eat it for an easy lunch. It is SO flavorful and yummy. I was thinking maybe you could take some to work for lunch in a tupperware. If you make it ahead, it'd be really easy to just grab some on your way out the door.

6 oz. imitation crab meat, shredded (about 2 cups shredded)
2 green onions, sliced thin
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn, rinsed until thawed
1 cup chopped bell pepper (green, red, or yellow)
I've made it without the bell pepper when I don't have it. Just reduce the serving size to 2 cups.
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste

This makes two servings of 2 1/2 cups. Each serving is 4 points. You might find that that's a little bit too much food. If you have 1 1/4 cups, you can bring two points worth of baked corn chips (I explain how to make them a little later on in this post) and still have a 4-point lunch. I love scooping up the salad like salsa on the chips.

This has nothing to do with vegetables, but I thought you might like trying these too: Jimmy Dean D'lite breakfast sandwiches. You can find them in the refrigerator section. A box of 4 is about $5 so I have only gotten them once, but that's not too bad of a price if you eat it for lunch instead of breakfast. It's turkey sausage, egg white and cheese on a multi-grain english muffin for 4 points. (It might have been 5...) They're a nice size. Just put it in the microwave for a minute, eat some fruit on the side, and you're good to go.

Now for low-point snacks. Most of my favorites are already listed somewhere on this blog. I tend to use my extra points for sugary things like Hershey's kisses, Healthy Choice fudge bars, and tootsie pops, but I'll share a few of the things I go for when I'm actually hungry.

0 point snacks:

1) Carrots, celery and cucumbers w/ fat free ranch
2) Frozen peas.
3) Sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper or grape tomatoes from Costco.
4) Claussen pickle halves.

1 point snacks:

1) Frigo Cheese Head light string cheese.
2) Weight Watcher's Yogurt
3) An apple sliced thin (it makes it seem like there is more)
4) Quaker's "Quakes" Rice Cakes. These are very crunchy and you can have 8 for one point. I've only tried the caramel variety, but there are a bunch of different flavors. I'm a fan.

2 point snacks:

1) Chips and salsa. You need to find some corn tortillas that are just made with corn meal and water, no lard. They are usually about 30-40 calories each, no fat, and significant fiber. I cut up FOUR of these, bake them at 350 for 15 minutes, and have 32 chips with all-you-can-eat salsa (Jack's Special from Costco is my favorite) for 2 points. It's best to make as many chips at a time as will fit in your oven. That way, you have them on hand without having to heat up your house all the time.
2) I often eat dry cereal. 3/4 cup of Honey Bunches of Oats or 1 1/2 cups of Kix. Yum.
3) A 100-calorie bag of microwave popcorn. They have kettle corn too.
4) Ak-mak crackers with Laughing Cow cheese.
5) Fiber One bars or Curves granola bars. Curves don't have as much fiber so they're easier on your digestive system.
6) Lite Lays potato chips with onion dip. These aren't Baked Lays, they're different. They're a lot better and you can have a whole bunch of them for one point. I make the dip by mixing onion soup mix into fat free sour cream.
7) I know you don't like shrimp, but for those who do: shrimp and cocktail sauce.

Well, I hope this makes life a little easier for you. I also hope I can finally sleep after getting all these ideas out of my head. Good luck!