Back to the healthy me!

Over the holidays I ate way too much.... WAAAAAYYYYYY too much. I was pregnant the Christmas before so it "didn't matter" and I guess since I am nursing, I felt a little too much the same about it. However the 500 extra calories a nursing mom requires was covered in probably 2 cookies a day so....
Anyway, in an effort to climb back on the healthy bandwagon, I am trying to cut out some sugar and to do that I need to cut out my cravings for said sugar :( In an effort to do that, I am NOT eating any carbs this week except for those in vegetables. Next week I will add in fruits and then the week after I can eat complex carbs again. You have to be careful if you are pregnant or nursing but in general, most people can knock out grains for "just a little while" without issue. I would never suggest this is a permanent thing- whole unrefined grains are very very good for you. With that said, unrefined simple carbohydrates are absolutely not (good for you). They cause blood sugar spikes with too much insulin release and when they wear off, which does not take long, they cause blood sugar crashes. Abuse of the system sets you up for diabetes and will probably make you fat, which sets you up for other health issues.
However, right now there is nothing I want more than a huge fountain coke and some nachos. Or a brownie with ice cream.......
Okay okay back to the subject. I find that meals are very easy to come up with but snacks are the hardest- I tire of almonds or veggie sticks even dipped in hummus or yogurt dip after awhile. Again since this is temporary I will muddle through till next weeks fruits or the following weeks granola. It really does work, I have done it before with great success as long as you stick to whole foods/grains as a lifestyle choice (of course a few slices of regular pizza on regular dough will not hurt you once in awhile). If anyone is interested, here are a few meals from this week.
*Cajun baked chicken- just use msg free "cajun seasoning" and some olive oil poured over your chicken and bake at 325 degrees until chicken is done (time will depend on cut); served with a spinach salad with goat cheese, mushrooms and green onion in vinaigrette as well as oven roasted squash with rosemary and olive oil
*Sirloin with red wine and mushroom sauce- cook your steak however you want; sautee mushrooms in olive oil with some mashed garlic, then pour a half cup good red wine over them and cook the alcohol out/reduce (salt/pepper it off the heat or it may get too salty); served with green beans cooked with a slice of chopped peppered turkey bacon and onion and butter
*Steakhouse salad- pretty self-explanatory (used leftover steak!)
*Chicken lettuce wraps- recipe posted earlier this week
*Meatloaf (use parmesan instead of oats for the binding) with mashed cauliflower (will go half-half with potatoes for the boys) and peas.... this is tonight's meal and i have never done meatloaf this way. If it works out I will post
Also will be making some turkey chili this weekend and probably some baked hot "wing" chicken strips with a blue cheese chopped salad. Keep your fingers crossed for the cravings to stop super soon :)