Episode 9 My favorite fruits and Carbohydrates for my diet

Today’s episode covers all the fruits and carbohydrates I ate while losing weight. I share tips on where to get them from grocery stores like Aldi, Fresh Thyme, Pick n Save/Kroger and more. I also cover recipe ideas and how I used them to make filling flavorful food.

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Transcript

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Hi I'm Thomas welcome to the parachute advice. My life has taken a lot of twists and turns and on this podcast I will dive into those experiences the goal is to help everyone listening learn from my experiences, and hopefully avoid some of the mistakes I've made hi welcome to today's episode of the parachute advice podcast, I'm your host Thomas today we're going to cover some of my favorite starches and fruits to pair with your main protein source as I've mentioned in previous episodes and we'll keep mentioning. Being prepared is one major key to your healthy eating success let's cover carbohydrates first first off, there's nothing wrong with eating carbs I would go as far as to say if training hard it's vital to replenish your body's energy stores you've probably heard people talk about the idea of carb-loading before a big race or event this is not just a one-day eating of a ton of carbs but a slow and steady ramp up leading to the event so having carbs on hand to make a complete meal is key, so what are some of the carbohydrates I enjoyed ahead enjoy eating and keep on hand first off white rice one of the biggest items, it has so many uses I usually get jasmine rice from Aldi but any long grain white rice will do cooked on its own or with vegetables mixed in is one of the main ways I eat this, I do get short grain rice from time to time and make Chinese rice porridge called kanji this is a great filling meal with low calories since your simmering the rice in a 721 or even nine to one ratio, you will end up with a stew like consistency that then you can top with the vegetables and some protein this can be flavored A Million Ways often the porridge portion is kept pretty bland and the flavor comes from the toppings like sauteed vegetables and protein because of how low the calories are this is a great place to use something like chicken thighs for extra flavor. Think about this one cup of rice and 7 cups of water, gives you roughly 7 to 8 cups of finished porridge at a perk up calorie count of 100 calories 100 grams of chicken thigh and a cup of spinach and you're at 270 calories for a serving may be a bit higher if you use a higher calorie marinade on your chicken or something in your spinach. Next sticky rice this is another one I really enjoy if you want to make sticky rice you will need to buy the correct short grain rice often labeled as sticky rice sweet rice or glutinous rice just to be clear this rice is still gluten-free, they're calling it glutinous rice because of its sticky or glue like texture when finished cooking. I've posted on Instagram a great recipe from Spruce eats for an easy rice cooker sticky rice recipe that I use in several of my friends of used with great success. Bob's Red Mill grits, this could be any brand but Bob's is my go-to I cooked these three main ways just one cup of grits to 4 cups of water for a basic creamy grits recipe at this point the second option is to mix in some cheese of choice for flavor and added creaminess, I use options like blue cheese and a ton of black pepper but be cautious this can add a lot of fat and calories with the blue cheese. Another one is fat-free cheese for a creamy cheesy texture and then, some nutritional yeast for a Cheesy flavor finally I'll sometimes use Laughing Cow Cheese wedges as well the last way is to make the basic recipe of grits and then mix in Frozen chopped vegetables like spinach broccoli or kale, Farah I use is very much like white rice I will often do half and half for a side dish to alter The Taste and the macros farro has more protein than regular white rice. This like rice and quinoa can also be cooked cooled and mixed with fresh vegetables to make a healthy salad to go with proteins like chicken or fish. Quinoa is another one that can be used just like fire or rice as well, one important thing I didn't know until I started cooking with quinoa was it must be rinsed under cold water for at least 30 seconds before cooking if not it can have a soap like taste after cooking, dried or canned beans depending on what kind this can make a great starchy vegetable and be considered a protein. Especially if student paired with rice this is a common source of complex proteins for vegetarians I'll usually cook dried beans in my Crock-Pot, I'll use a large white beans or pinto beans and then serve this over simple white rice for an easy meal, for Hispanic style rice baked I'll use canned black beans mixed with rice canned tomatoes some frozen vegetables this all gets baked in the oven for a great filling dinner with a ton of leftovers. One of my favorite recipes is from Chef John's YouTube channel Food Wishes it's called the best baked beans and rice this is one of my frequent go twos you can also always have everything on hand in the pantry and just whip this together for a quick meal prep idea when you don't know what you want to make for the week, 90 second microwave Rice pouches but watch which ones you buy because the calories can fluctuate greatly from pouch the pouch but these are a great option, and have a great shelf life so I keep them on hand. Okay rice cakes make a great salty snack or used in place of crackers for canned tuna or other protein to have a quick lunch or light dinner. I also personally love the small chocolate and caramel rice cakes as a snack they really Satisfy My Sweet Tooth at times again this is one where some brands have far better calorie numbers and others so look and read the label. I usually get the Meijer brand calories are low in flavors good plus when they're when they're on sale the price is just right, healthy life for Kroger card master low calorie bread for sandwiches or toast to go with egg white Skillets or omelets I have personally stop buying the Kroger Card Master bread because one day out of the blue the calories jumped over 50% from one day to the other. Why I don't know but it's now 50 calories per slice and I think there's better options out there that are offer you a lower calorie options. One of those is the keto bread and rolls from all these they have a they are 35 calories per slice or 70 calories per two roles. The roles make a fluffy perfect sandwich the bread is well the bread is probably the closest to traditional bread out that I have found in a low-calorie keto Brett again, the all these keto dinner rolls. Are very similar in design to Hawaiian rolls I've used it to make cold-cut sandwich has four events and I make sandwiches for myself at home one great one is to take half the package which is six rolls at 35 calories a roll. Leave it in a sheet cut it in half as a sheet. Layer on your sandwich toppings assemble miss the top with a little bit of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray and place the whole thing in the air fryer to heat it up. For healthy life bread they have two versions one is 30 calories a slice and the other is 35. They both have great flavors and our great product they also have a few other flavored like a Hawaiian bread and a cinnamon toast bread. I will say the cinnamon toast bread while nice does have a bit of an off flavor from the sweeteners are using in the cinnamon swirl. Ask for hot dog and hamburger buns I personally like Aunt Millie's live carbs smart butts they're the lowest calorie ones out there and frankly I really like the texture over regular hamburger and hot dog buns. They also make a low-calorie English muffin I've yet to try that but I'm sure it's just as good as their other buns. I get most of my low carb bread at Woodman's it's a local grocery chain in my area I get this I get it there due to availability and frankly cost I will often get several packages and freeze them so I have them on hand. These items will last in the freezer for a few months at least, once Frozen you have to use it the minute you thought I'll just pull out a few slices and toast them up in the toaster throw them out skinny Bagels is one of my favorites with smoked salmon or some and some sliced red onion and Herb flavored Laughing Cow Cheese to Bagels 13 ounce package of smoked salmon and one or two wedges of cheese will get you a 360 to 400 calorie lunch. This is a case where I rarely count the calories for the onions since it's so little but as I've said repeatedly if you're early in your journey or taking your Dairy daily calories right to the line. Then I would probably count the onions okay oatmeal is another interesting thing to add into the mix. I make oatmeal a ton of ways including sweet for breakfast and savory for dinner I've even used it as my starch in soup the other day I prefer quick rolled oats. Sometimes I will get steel cut oats but at that point it's basically like grits just wheat over corn. For steel cut I'll use it just like grits for a Savory meal for the rolled oats. I'll make it with water and add some pb2 and Stevia for breakfast I'll just adjust the water a little bit to account for the powdered peanut butter so frankly you get a bigger bowl because you're adding a little extra water. I like pb2 because you get the protein - most of the fat they also have a great chocolate version of pb2 that's delicious and you're in your oatmeal. You can also add some low-fat or fat-free Greek yogurt to flavor the flavor the oatmeal and it adds more protein. A great pre-run meal is oatmeal some pb2 and a little bit of honey. Or here's an unique idea that many people don't think of savory oatmeal. Make the oatmeal / the package and instead of making as a quote breakfast mix-ins. Mixing Savory items one of my favorites is frozen chopped broccoli fat-free cheese nutritional yeast and fat-free cottage cheese. This makes a fantastic side with roast chicken or turkey you can also add some oats to SuperSU to help thicken it and add some starch. The other day I just dumped my leftover Savory oatmeal into a pot with broth mushrooms and imitation crab to make a huge meal of soup, frozen diced potatoes or hash browns is another great one just make sure you read the labels some of these Frozen potatoes will have added oil, my experience has been if it's formed like tater tots or hash brown Patties or even french fries it will have added fat. While just plain diced or shredded potatoes do not have the added oil that said some Brands still add oil even to those so read the labels. I'll also get the potato O'Brien's which is just diced Frozen potatoes with some chopped pepper and onions added in I usually use these to make egg whites Skillets or bakes. Let's also talk about instant mashed potatoes I love instant mashed potatoes I always have especially the prepackaged idahoan ones that make a great side on their own or with it added vegetable mix it. For example make a for serving package of the cheesy ones and mix into Servants of Frozen chopped spinach and you have a great side dish I will also keep playing instant mashed potatoes on hand to thicken soups and stews while adding carbs so I can flavor them myself. I use water to make the flavored ones and plain ones as well then I add in some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter light for a butter flavor. Also instant mashed potatoes are a great way to fix homemade mashed potatoes that get too watery or what. So if you're ever making mashed potatoes for a holiday or a big event have some plain instant mashed potatoes on hand just in case you make your mashed potatoes a little too watery a little instant and you'll have it fixed in no time. Last is Bisquick I keep a box of this in a ziplock bag in my refrigerator to use as I need it this can be used to make waffles and pancakes, but when I use it a lot for is mixed in with leftover instant mashed potatoes extra vegetables and maybe a protein to make a Savory potato pancake or another one, is it traditional Japanese Savory pancake. I will thaw chopped frozen spinach lightly sautéed cabbage and other ingredients then let it cool and mix in water soy sauce in Bisquick make the pancake and top it with some Sriracha light mayo and furikake if you have the room in your calories is a great place to add a fried egg or some Japanese QP mail if you've never had Japanese keep email. At least once in your life try it it will be a game changer just know that it is very high in calories you can also mix in some egg whites or egg beaters with this, for a simple pancake recipe while adding protein this will help buying the potato pancake and I've also noticed it helps them fluff a bit more making them almost more pancake like inconsistency versus a thin dense potato pancake. I have also done us done this with shredded zucchini in place of cabbage or just shredded zucchini egg whites and Bisquick. Again take a look at my Instagram page for some great examples of what I've made with these items okay let's talk about fruit this is one area I'm terrible about I would say 90% of my fruit consumption comes in the form of no sugar added Mott's apple sauce pouches or no sugar added fruit cups my biggest complaint on the no sugar added fruit cups is some Brands add too much artificial sweetener so it just, taste artificial I usually either get dull or Kroger Brand on this item I find keeping fresh fruit on hand and not having it go to waste it's just really difficult for me. How often I found rotten or going bad fruit in the back of my fridge is just too numerous to count on top of that I'm always stressed about what exactly is an apple how many calories are in that size apple or pear or whatever it is, how how do I log this what do I put in my fitness pal so for me it's just easier to find low calorie healthy packaged fruit options, I'll also get pouches from the baby food aisle of vegetables and fruit sometimes but I'll warn you some of these taste great and some taste like garbage I'm sure the babies love them but I don't. Another one freeze-dried fruit is a great option again I have found great no added ingredients ones that are 30 to 40 calories per bag in the baby food aisle, I find baby food options often have less added ingredients and tend to come in smaller single-serve portions another option is to make your own pouches I've done this by getting a a baby food pouch making device from Amazon, and then I'll maybe blend up some applesauce or roasted tomato soup or broccoli potato soup and make my own pouches and freeze them to take with me with for lunches, I'll also get no sugar added canned fruit like peaches Mandarin oranges or pears and then portion those out in a half cup servings for easy portion control I'll also buy and use frozen fruit I mix this with yogurt or cottage cheese for a nice snack. Just read the package to make sure no sugar has been added. Just the other day I mix cottage cheese wild frozen blueberries and a little bit of stevia for a fantastic high protein breakfast the best part about Frozen, fruits, is the freezing process causes the fruit cells to break so when they thought and are mixed in with something like a zero calorie sweetener they make a sauce of their own which is great mixed in with cottage cheese yogurt or put over something like pound cake as I mentioned in the holiday episode I also like the no sugar added Great Value brand cherry pie filling with two good vanilla yogurt, they make an apple pie version It's okay but the the no sugar added cherry pie filling is my favorite mix with plain Greek yogurt or two good vanilla yogurt. As I mentioned fruit is one spot in my diet where I'm very weak on. I shouldn't could focus more on it but it's just too much effort for me and I think I'm doing everything else a lot a lot better so I just kind of let the fruit portion slide. I hope this gave you more great ideas for cooking there is a lot more where this came from but these are my main Staples and go Twos for carbs and fruits around the house. As always eating on a diet doesn't have to be boring your meals don't need to be light on taster. Both are easily done and we'll make the whole journey much easier thank you for listening please join me again for future episodes. You can contact me at parachute advice podcast at gmail.com again that's all one word parachute advice podcast at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram at parachute advice again thank you for listening and please like And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Music.