One problem I have with dieting is the thought of giving up all the food I love to lose weight. I think that’s why women don’t stick with a healthy diet; because they deprive themselves of things they want for so long and end up binging to compensate. I’ve definitely been there.
I want to be able to enjoy my daily life, and to do that, I need to enjoy the food I eat.
Here’s how I kept up my Jumpstart Diet without depriving myself:
After an excruciatingly long week of classes and work, I was in serious need of a girls’ night. While grocery shopping, I spotted some whole-wheat tortillas and I knew Mexican would be the theme of the evening.
40 minutes up and down the aisles of Stop & Shop and I was ready to head home and start cooking. I chose to make my own healthy version fajitas with homemade guacamole (my first time ever!) and margaritas!
I grilled boneless chicken strips (after removing any excess fat) in McCormick’s fajita seasoning. I let those cook in a pan on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Make sure to move chicken around and turn the pieces over every so often so it cooks evenly.
Then I cut up half a yellow onion, strips of red, yellow and orange bell peppers and put them into another pan with half a cup of water and put the cover on for about 30 minutes on low heat. I added some seasoning to the vegetables as well, but that’s because I like it spiccaaaayyy.
I found reduced sodium Spanish rice and cooked that until it was al-dente. I also chose to only include half the packet of the rice’s seasoning, because even with the reduced sodium, there’s still quite a bit of salt.
*I served my guests reduced fat sour cream and canned black olives, but I kept away from the because of the extra fat and salt; up to you!
While all of that was cooking I broke out what really is the best thing since sliced bread, my food processor. I LOVE this thing. It saves me soooo much time and helped me make my homemade guacamole nice and smooth with just the right amount of zest.
I used Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl Mock-a-mole recipe and was told (by my extremely picky boyfriend) that it was the best guacamole he’d ever had. I used the food processor to finely chop the cilantro, to dice the tomatoes and red onion and smooth the creamy avocado. Yum! Tip: Serve with whole-wheat tortilla chips!
By the time the meal was ready, my girls were salivating for the not-so-unhealthy Mexican goodness and so were my neighbors who poked their heads in looking for where the good smell was coming from.
Like I said before, I don’t think I should have to give up what I like to be healthy, I just need to find ways to make it work within my diet.
So, having said that, let me introduce you to my new favorite: Skinnygirl Margaritas. Oh my god. 100 calories per serving and after adding a little crushed ice, the perfect over 21 collegiette’s ™ drink of choice. All the fun without the guilt, right?
The night was a success and I was super proud of myself for making a delicious, festive meal while staying on track.
Keep yourself excited about food and find new ways to make old favorites!
Share any favorite go-to healthy meals with me you just can’t live without!
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