Good Morning Lisa and PA.  

I bookmarked the lasagne cupcakes recipe.  I'm going to give them a try, and freeze some of them.  

I was at the dentist yesterday, getting a tooth pulled.  So, it is soft food for me today and tomorrow.  

I slept till 12:30 today.  I guess I needed it.  

I was going to do yardwork, but got up late and am not heading out there in this heat.

Hugs,
Trish 

I will definately try this thanks for sharing

 I find that even my firmest resolution to do "just toppings" puts me too close to temptation. I can't get close to a pizza slice without planning to just go for it and eat at least some of the crust too. And as a Costco fan....it takes resistance! Pizza put on many, many pounds pre op. Still love it. Still a trigger food. 

I too had recently fallen into a pattern of too much reliance on protein bars and premixed shakes. My weight had jumped up to a total of 15 lbs over my lowest weight, and wouldn't budge....and in between those shakes and bars, I was grazing on fruit and other foods that were basically "okay" foods....but not planned. My husband pointed out to me a few months ago that I seemed to be eating continuously. So I was probably - no, definitely - eating too much of the right thing. 

A friend of mine is big into alternative health and her daughter is finishing up chiropractic college. She did a 21 day "cleanse" recommended by her own chiro in April and loved it. She lost weight and looked fantastic. Now, I am especially leery of anything called a "cleanse" for various reasons. But I was at her house for lunch one day and she made me a protein smoothie using the "cleanse" protein mixture and I checked out the nutrition. Not bad. So I decided to give it a try. I am now on day 11. Days 1-10 were basically vegan eating with 3-5 shakes a day using the protein powder (I doubled the amount to be sure to get enough protein) and a spoonful of added fiber (all natural). I made the smoothies with ALL fresh veggies and fruit - the guideline was twice as many veggies as fruits. These ended up making about 30 oz. of thick concoction that never tasted the same twice - and never had that artificial "protein shake" taste. 

 I also took some "green" cleanse capsules with each meal - again, all natural ingredients. I(**Alert!**These are NOT a laxative!!!***)  and ate fruit, veggies, and 1/2 cup lentils daily. Some days I added 1/2 sweet potato if desired. But the truth was....I hardly ever had room for more than 2 shakes, my water, and a daily veggie stir fry with the lentils tossed in. 

So anyway, this has been a "reset" for me that has gotten me off of grains, artificial foods, dairy (although that was my one craving), and animal proteins for a short time. I've started adding fish, and had a salad with salmon yesterday. This weekend I plan to pick up some steamed shrimp. 

I don't mean to endorse a "cleanse" at all - but a regimented eating plan has been helpful for me, and still allows me to eat a lot (relatively speaking) when I want to....but it's a lot of grilled asparagus, or a lot of broccoli stir fry, rather than a 2nd protein bar. It was also easier to get along without the animal proteins than I ever imagined. I also realized how much processed food had crept into my diet in recent months and now limit my shopping to about 90% fresh produce. 

Down side? Frequent runs to the....no not that!....the grocery store and farmers market!

For me...better than the 5DPT, which I looked at but never actually was  motivated to do....much more realistic. I think I will stick with the "green" style shakes, since I always have a shake for breakfast anyway, and build the rest of the day's protein from there. 

well, yesterday did not go as well as the day before, and I'm wondering what it was that set me off.  I was trying to follow a 6-month post op plan.  I was supposed to have the toppings of one slice of pizza for dinner, but I got the F its and ate the whole slice, including crust.  I patted myself on the back for only eating one slice, but I saw just how difficult it was to stay on plan when faced with a food I love.  Also, I cannot believe I used to live on protein bars.  LOL.  I wanted to cry after the 2nd one.  And while eating the last one, I read the package and found it had 8 grams of sugar, which surprised me.  It was a Southbeach bar that I used to buy, and I swear it used to have artificial sweetners and sugar alcohols rather than real sugar.  I do not know if psychologically that set me off or if I really had an "allergic" reaction to the sugar (or could it have been the pizza), but about an hour after eating that bar, I was back in the kitchen with a bowl of cornflakes with strawberries that were totally not on my plan.

I do believe that yesterday's eating was not emotion driven, but rather food driven -- cravings based on what I ate and visual cues. 

So, conclusion, the day of no-grains was more successful than the day that included grains.  More experimenting to come.

thanks for letting me share my insanity with you all.  LOL.

Oh, and by the way, this is not a dead horse.  It's alive and kicking!  Please feel free to cross post this information to the crossing to transfer addiction boards.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/group/crossingtotransferaddiction s/discussion/