Trim Healthy Mama 107 - Crossovers (and Cheats)

This is my seventh and final post on plan basics.  Future posts will feature recipes, directions, suggestions, insights, and deeper-level learning.  How perfect - seven is God's number of completeness.  (But that's another blog entirely, and possibly a book that I will write someday, Lord willing).

Hopefully by now you have a decent handle on the three main THM meal choices of E, S, and FP.  If not, I recommend studying them until you understand them.  I know it took me a little while.  Don't worry, this is a marathon, not a sprint.  This is not a crash diet, it's a way of life. Don't expect to lose 20 pounds your first month.  Remember who won the race between the tortoise and the hare.

The next concept we are going to look at is the crossover - the XO.

The crossover is where you add some carbs to an S meal.  There are numerous reasons for doing this:

• Growing children need the nutrition and fuel of crossovers
• Pregnant and nursing mothers need the extra energy
• You are at or near goal weight
• It's a special occasion 
• You are at a church potluck and by golly it all looks so good
• Most men/husbands need crossovers
• You are doing THM for health reasons and not weight loss
• You are underweight and are looking to gain a bit
• You just wanna

A crossover is not a cheat meal.  A crossover still keeps to the foods recommended by THM.  Here are some examples:

XO Breakfast

Two hard boiled eggs

Two slices sprouted wheat toast

Fresh strawberries

Coffee or tea

XO Lunch

Chicken Salad with apples, golden raisins, pecans, and mayonnaise dressing

on a bed of greens

Carrots and celery sticks

Yogurt and berry smoothie
(This meal becomes an E if you use just a small sprinkle of pecans and nonfat Greek yogurt for dressing instead of mayo)

XO Dinner

Beef chili with black beans, cheddar cheese, and Greek yogurt

THM Cornbread (see Pinterest)

Iced Tea with Lemon

If it helps, think of the crossover as a little kiss and hug.

A downright cheat is when you go to visit your cute little granddaughter in another city that happens to have a bakery called Five Daughters Bakery which makes the most incredible donuts and you go and get one and enjoy that bacon and maple donut to the fullest with no regrets. (Run-on sentence intentional).

But then you temper the cheat with a visit to the Trim Healthy Mama store that happens to be in the same city!  Hello Nashville.  By the way, if you go out to eat a lot or travel frequently, you can do this plan.  I will definitely post about those situations in the future.

I won't taunt you with donut photos.  But isn't this a cute bakery?

THM Store in Nashville

Gratuitous photo of granddaughter who lives near the bakery

Another cheat example is that you go to a family wedding and simply enjoy the meal they are serving, along with the glass of champagne and a piece of wedding cake.  Go ahead!  This plan allows for such things.  Not every day of course, but THM celebrates food freedom. 

If you find yourself slowing down too much in your weight loss progress, try and make note of how many crossovers or cheats you are allowing yourself, and make changes accordingly.

If you want to start over at the first post on plan basics and read through them again, you may click here.  

Trim Healthy Mama 106 - Glorious Veggies!

In this post, I want to talk about vegetables in all their magnificent variety!

First, let's talk about non-starchy vegetables.  These are allowed in liberal quantities for all meal types.  Non-starchies do have small amounts of carbs, but the carbs are generally offset by fiber, so we don't have to count them as a carb.  Cool, huh?

There are literally hundreds of non-starchy carbs.  Here is a list of some of my favorites:

• Leafy greens.  So many benefits here.  Spinach, kale, spring mix, romaine and so forth.  Take and eat in abundance!
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Peppers, peppers, peppers... mild, hot, and everything in between
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower (it's like stem cells - wait till you see what it can turn into!)
• Radishes
• Eggplant
• Fresh tomatoes
• Brussels sprouts
• Celery
• Zucchini and yellow squash
• Spaghetti squash
• Mushrooms.  Did you know they are like sponges and you can stick them in a sunny window and they will absorb vitamin D?  Who knew?
• Green Beans
• Okra (Find a way to love it.  It's a super food powerhouse.)
• Kohlrabi

Leafy greens are the lowest and most nutritious of all the non-starchies.
Eat them in generous amounts.

Starchier carbs are best eaten in E meals.  We have already talked about sweet potatoes and legumes which definitely fall into the E category. Some of these starchier vegetables on the following list can also be used in smaller amounts for S and FP meals as noted.

• Carrots (small amounts in S and FP)
• Onions (small amounts in S and FP)
• Beets (small amounts in S and FP)
• Pumpkin (small amounts in S and FP)
• Parsnips
• Rutabaga
• Turnips
• Acorn or butternut squash
• Peas
• Tomato sauce and paste:  while tomatoes are lower carb, these products are more concentrated so just be aware and don't overdo them while in S mode.

Vegetables such as olives and avocados are high in fat and are best paired with S meals.  Although technically, both of them are classified as fruits.  And technically, rhubarb is a vegetable and you can enjoy it like a non-starchy.  Let me know if you find a way of making it taste good without loading it with sugar.  Salsa, maybe?

Rhubarb:  something I have never learned to love

The bottom line:  enjoy your veggies in great abundance!

For the last post on THM basics, click here.

Trim Healthy Mama 105 - A Sweet Life

Before I talk about vegetables (as I hinted I would in a previous post), I cannot ignore the elephant in the room.

Sugar.

Sugar in its many forms - honey, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, and so on - is the culprit for so many health problems we face today.  And it loves to hide out in our food, hoping it will not be detected.

The Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle helps you to get rid of this blood-sugar-nightmare product without giving up the sweet life.  It's true.

I'm not going to lie... during my first three days on THM, as I was detoxing from sugar, I sported a headache of great magnitude.  It felt a little bit like a lead pipe was stuck into the front of my forehead and just stayed there.

Before you run screaming in the other direction, let me just tell you that it was worth it.  Every minute.  I didn't realize until later that my body was detoxing from sugar.  After three days, the headache went away, along with a lot of food cravings, as my blood sugars calmed down and stabilized.

Also let me tell you that this does not happen to everyone.  Not everyone is a slave to sugar the way I was.  I was eating good sugars, too - honey, maple syrup, agave, blah blah blah.  They all have a similar effect on blood sugar.

And then I discovered the many THM approved desserts and sweets.  I had already tried Cottage Berry Whip that tastes like strawberry ice cream.  But then, I discovered Cry No More brownies.  And Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  And for when I don't feel like baking (which is often), Lily's chocolate bars (mentioned in my previous post).  And then the sisters came out with another cookbook called Trim Healthy Table, in which there was a recipe for Holiday Pumpkin Roll (the one thing that I had often baked, with all of its sugar, before starting this plan).

I laughed.  I cried.  It moved me, Bob.
 It is fantastic and tastes just like the one I used to make.

So let's talk about on-plan sweeteners.

Stevia.  My favorite by far is the pure stevia sold by the Trim Healthy Mamas.  One tiny doonk (1/32 of a teaspoon) sweetens a beverage nicely.  Yes, a 4-ounce bag seems expensive at first glance - $38.99 - but it lasts me at least a full year.

Stevia blended with erythritol or xylitol.  Those two big-sounding words are safe sugar alcohols that do not raise your blood sugar.  This is a great way to bake with stevia, because these blends lend volume to your baked goods.  Some good brands of stevia blends are Whole Earth, Pyure, and Truvia.  Note:  xylitol is toxic to dogs.  If you have a canine friend, stick with the erithrytol blends.

Important Side Note:  Avoid the sugar alcohol called malitol.  Malitol can cause a major laxative reaction, and if you do not believe me, read some of the reviews of these malitol-sweetened gummy worms.  And brace yourself.

THM also sells some of these stevia blends, but as a do-it-yourself-er, I prefer to mix my own.  Here is a quick recipe for you:

• 3 cups erithrytol
• 1 tsp THM pure stevia

Combine in a bowl with a wire whisk.  This is twice as sweet as sugar, and is equivalent to Gentle Sweet mentioned in the THM cookbook. I store mine in mason jars.

There are many brands of pure stevia and stevia blends out there.  Read labels and avoid ones with sugar, dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin, and agave, which are different forms of sugar.

Also, stay away from the artificial sweeteners of saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose (Splenda).  There is nothing healthy about these fake sweeteners.

I always carry stevia with me.  You never know when a coffee shop or restaurant won't stock it!

A few drops of this turns a glass of restaurant ice water into lemonade
(as long as I remember to ask for a slice or two of lemon)

These little  guys nestle into my luggage when I travel.

If you are someone who runs away screaming at the suggestion of stevia, I encourage you to give it another chance.  Some things take time to acclimate to our taste buds.  And with some of the blends, it is hard to tell the difference.

I know one person who is allergic to stevia.  Another option is monk fruit.  There is a brand called Lakanto, which I have tried.  It is another zero glycemic option like stevia, but its drawback is that it is  more expensive.

I want to wrap up this post by saying that THM is about food freedom.  If you are in weight loss mode, sugars are best avoided.  But when you are at or near your goal, small amounts of good, natural sweeteners such as honey can be enjoyed.

The Bible gives us a good (albeit graphic) word on this in Proverbs 25:16 - When you find honey, eat only what is sufficient for you, lest you become stuffed with it and vomit it up. 

Wise words.  Moderation.

But if you happen to have a day where you overindulge and cheat like crazy, THM is a grace-filled plan.  You are only three hours from your next meal and you can jump right back on plan.  Don't beat yourself up, don't give up, and keep moving forward.  You can do this!

Ok, on to veggies now.  Click here to read it.

Trim Healthy Mama 104 - Meal Spacing and Snack Attacks

It is time to talk about meal timing and snacks.

This plan allows you to keep your body fueled. In other words, you get to eat and not be deprived.  (Music to my ears).  A snack or two per day is encouraged between meals, especially if your meals are far apart.  Proper meal spacing and snacking helps to rev your metabolism.

But wise snacking is in order.  You don't want to graze all day long and keep your blood sugar constantly elevated; you want to give your body some digestive rest.  The plan recommends that you give your body some fuel around every 3-4 hours during the day, but the rule is not hard and fast.

For example,  if you eat breakfast at 7 am and don't have lunch until around noon, you might want to incorporate a small snack around 9 or 10 am.  

In the same way, if your lunch is at noon and dinner is at 6 pm, your body is probably going to ask you for something around 3:00ish.

Depending on which meal your snack is closest to, you want to try and match the fuel type.  For example, if your lunch that is coming up in two hours will be an S meal, then a FP or S snack would be in order.  If you are not sure what you are having yet, go with the FP.

Here are some of my go-to snacks:

S snacks - String cheese, a hard boiled egg, a chunk of a Lily Chocolate Bar, a slice of S dessert that is lurking in my fridge, a handful or two of nuts, a handful or two of Whisps (addictive parmesan cheese crackers which require great restraint on my part), or an Epic bar (which I almost always happen to keep in my purse).

One of many flavors.   THM recommends darker chocolate,
but you have freedom here.

FP snacks - Oikos Triple Zero Yogurt, low fat cottage cheese with berries, an Epic bar, a zero fat Greek yogurt and berry smoothie.

These are my latest discovery... so good!

E snacks - an apple with a teaspoon of peanut butter, an Epic bar, and nonfat Greek yogurt or low fat cottage cheese with fresh fruit (banana slices, oranges, peaches, or similar).

When changing your fuels, it is best to allow about 2 1/2 to 3 hours between them.  For example, if you have a carby E snack at 3 pm, don't eat a rich and fatty S meal until about 5:30 or 6 pm.  You want to make sure all the former fuel is used up before introducing a different fuel.

This can be a lot of information, but I encourage you to work through it until you have a handle on it.  And feel free to ask questions.

Oh, and for those of you who are asking, what are Epic bars?  Oh, let me tell you. They are the most convenient protein snack that I have found.  Each one is different, so I studied the labels to determine which ones worked best nutritionally with this plan.

I look for 10 grams of protein or higher, because some are lower than that and I avoid those.  Here is a list of the ones I keep around:

Venison (FP)
Turkey and Cranberry (E)
Chicken Sriracha (FP)
Chicken Sesame BBQ (Personal Favorite, FP)
Beef, Bacon, Apple (S)

My precious... 

Coming up next in this series of THM basics... sweeteners.  Click here to read it.

Trim Healthy Mama 103 - Three Basic Meal Types

So now, let's look at the three basic Trim Healthy Mama meal options.  Later on, you can learn about variations to these three basic meals that you can use to tailor them to your nutritional needs.  But for now, let's keep it simple.

The founders of the Trim Healthy Mama plan, sisters Serene and Pearl, call them the E (for energizing), the S (for satisfying) and FP (Fuel pull) meals.

All three meal types are built around a protein.  Protein is very important because it causes your body to produce glucagon, which in turn helps to temper the blood sugar rush.  This plan is all about controlling your blood sugar.  So when planning a meal, your first question is "Where is my protein?"

Protein - The Center of Your Plate!

And now, let's look at the E meal first.  This is where you get to bless your system with good carbs!  The E (Energizing) meal is a low fat meal, built around a lean protein.  Choose your lean protein, choose your carb, and then you also get to include plenty of non-starchy vegetables and/or berries.  You want to limit your fat to about a teaspoon in an E meal, but don't exclude it.  That small amount of fat actually aids in carb digestion.

Here are a couple examples of E meals to get you started:

E Breakfast
Oatmeal with Cinnamon and sweetened with stevia
Smoothie made with Greek yogurt (there's your protein) and mixed berries
Coffee with almond milk or a splash of half and half

E Lunch
Chili made from extra lean ground meat, black beans, and corn, topped with chopped onions, jalapenos, and a dollop of Greek yogurt
Garnish with a few baked tortilla chips
Strawberry lime blender drink (strawberries, lime juice, stevia, and water or kombucha - it tastes like a margarita!)

E Dinner
Baked wild caught salmon or other lean fish
Brown rice pilaf
Tossed green salad with lowfat dressing
Oolong tea
Pineapple Upside Down Cake (THM Cookbook or Pinterest)

See, that wasn't scary.  Carbohydrates are a good, God-given macro nutrient.  The E meal, however,  is not an excuse to go bonkers on carbs.  When thinking portion size, make your carb about the size of your palm.

Now let's look at the S meal.  This is a rich and delicious meal.  The S (satisfying) meal is built around the protein (lean or rich) of your choice, with generous amounts of good fats, and yummy non-starchy greens and vegetables.  Berries are also encouraged with S meals because they are gentle on blood sugar.  (I like to think of berries as parve.  In the kosher world, that is a term for an ingredient that can go with either a meat or a dairy meal.  In the THM world, berries can be added to an E, S, or FP meal.)

 Let's look at some examples:

S Breakfast
Two-egg omelet with sauteed mushrooms, onions, spinach, and cheddar cheese
2 small sausage links
A spoonful of raw sauerkraut (because it's so healthy for you!!)
Coffee or tea with cream as desired

S Lunch
Skin-on chicken breast or thigh
Spinach, strawberry, and feta salad with balsamic and olive oil dressing
Iced tea with lemon juice and sweetened with stevia
THM Chocolate Zucchini Cake (THM Cookbook)

S Dinner
Cheeseburger served on Cloud Bread (recipe on Pinterest)
Mustard, pickles, sliced onions, and THM ketchup (Pinterest or THM cookbook)
Broccoli tossed with butter
Bubbly water with stevia and lime juice

Yum!  Wasn't that fun?

There is one more basic meal type, and that is the FP (Fuel pull).  This meal basically excludes the two fuels of fats and carbs, and forces your body to dig into its fat stores to feed those hungry cells.  The meal includes your choice of lean protein, plus lots of non-starchy vegetables, berries as desired, and a teaspoon of healthy fat.  It's an E meal minus the carbs.

Here are some Fuel Pull meal ideas:

FP Breakfast
Nonfat Greek yogurt with berries and stevia as desired
(Oikos Triple Zero is a great on-the-run FP breakfast)
Coffee or tea with almond milk or a splash of half and half

FP Lunch
Tuna salad made with Greek yogurt
Bed of generous greens and non-starchy vegetables
tossed with 1 tsp olive oil and your favorite vinegar
Iced Tea with lemon and sweetener

FP Dinner
Crock pot Mexican chicken
(boneless skinless chicken breast and salsa in the crock pot)
Dollop of Greek yogurt
Chopped onions and peppers for garnish
Steamed green beans with 1 tsp butter
Cottage Berry Whip for dessert (THM Cookbook or Pinterest)

You probably noticed the liberal quantities of vegetables throughout these menu suggestions.  Yes!  Veggies are good!  Veggies and berries round out your meals.  I will discuss vegetables soon in more depth, but for now, just know that leafy greens and non-starchy vegetables are encouraged with any meal type.  Starchier vegetables such as corn, peas, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, and such are better paired with E meals.

I hope you can see that there is lots of food freedom with this plan.  YOU get to choose which meal to have, as long as you are including them all.  Don't get in a rut with just one meal type because that will slow down your metabolism.  Keep your body guessing and mix them up.

And I haven't even mentioned snacks yet.  Yes, you get them!  But that is my next post.  You will learn how to snack properly between the different meal types in order to have optimal blood sugar and rev your metabolism.  Click here to read about it.

Trim Healthy Mama 102 - The Macro Nutrients

Proteins, carbs, and fats.  Let's talk about them.

First, the proteins since they are the foundation of every meal.  Some meals require a leaner protein, while others allow you to enjoy proteins that are juicy and succulent.  So here is a list of proteins that is not exhaustive, but will give you a good starting point.

Lean Proteins

Lean ground turkey

Ground venison

Extra lean ground beef

Turkey breast

Lean deli meats

0 Fat Greek Yogurt

2% (or less) cottage cheese

Lowfat ricotta cheese

Egg whites

Tuna packed in water

Wild-caught salmon

Boneless skinless chicken breast

Richer Proteins

All meats and fish

Whole eggs

Dark meat chicken and skin

Full-fat cheese

The next category is good fats.  With some meals you can enjoy them liberally; with others, in small amounts.

Healthy Fats

Butter

Ghee

Coconut oil

Extra virgin olive oil

Heavy cream

Beef tallow

Bacon fat

MCT oil (from coconut oil)

Red palm oil

Mayonnaise

Avocados

Nuts

Full-fat salad dressings (but stick around and I'll teach you to make your own)

Next is a list of on-plan carbohydrates.  You will notice the absence of carbs that are white and refined, as well as sugar, which do no favors to your blood sugar.  THM celebrates carbs that are gentle and friendly to the blood sugar.

Examples of THM-approved Carbs

Brown rice

Oats and oatmeal

Quinoa

Sprouted or sourdough whole grain bread

Wasa crackers

Sweet potatoes

All beans and legumes

All whole fruits and berries

Corn and popcorn

These lists are not exhaustive but are meant to help you identify the different categories.  If you decide that you want to start this plan, I highly recommend the book, Trim Healthy Mama Plan, as well as one of the cookbooks:  Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, and/or Trim Healthy Table.  

So now you have some digestive and nutrient basics, and we are going to put it all together in the next post.  Click here to continue.

Trim Healthy Mama 101 - Basic Building Blocks and Digestion

In this post, I begin to introduce the basic concept of the Trim Healthy Mama (THM)  lifestyle and break it down as simply as possible.  There is definitely a learning curve to the plan, but don't let that scare you.  If you keep at it, it can eventually become second nature.

It is important to understand the three macro-nutrients:  Fats, carbohydrates, and protein.  Fats and carbs are the nutritional fuels that give you energy, and protein helps to build and maintain your cells.  (My next post will elaborate on these three macro ingredients and how they fit into THM).

The main premise behind Trim Healthy Mama is that in addition to protein, you give your body one fuel at a time.  In other words, not consuming both carbs and fats in one meal.  Before I go any further, let me explain how separating the two fuels affects digestion and your blood sugar.

When you eat a meal that includes both fats and carbs (such as a burger and fries), your digestive system breaks down the carbs first and converts them into glucose.  In other words, your system goes straight to work on the bun, the potato, and the sugary ketchup.

Glucose is what feeds the normal cells of your body.  Picture insulin as a delivery truck.  Your pancreas dispatches the "insulin truck" to go pick up a load of glucose - the carbs that have been broken down - to feed your cells.

Now picture those cells in your body as hungry little birds waiting for their mother to come and feed them.  Here comes that insulin truck (or in this case the mother bird), and it dumps off a load of food for those hungry little cells.

Feed us now!

NOW your body has to go back and deal with the fatty parts of the meal that you ate.  So it dispatches more insulin to go pick up the second load of glucose, created by those fats which took longer for your system to break down.

Here's the problem.   The insulin truck shows up to your regular body cells with more food, but they are now full.  They politely say "no thank you."  So the insulin truck has no choice but to deliver the glucose to your fat cells.  Fat cells are hospitable; they will always welcome more glucose to the party.

More glucose?  Bring it!  Welcome to the party!  We'll make room!

So here is where the concept of separating your fats and carbs comes into play.

If you eat a meal with good fats but without carbs, the digestive system gets right to work turning the fats you've eaten into glucose.  Your regular body cells get nicely fed, no second surge of insulin is necessary, and no extra glucose is delivered to the fat cell party.  Hello S meal.

Conversely, if your meal contains healthy carbs and very little fat, the digestive system breaks down those carbs without needing to come back and deal with any fats.  Greetings, E meal.

There is one other basic option that is a part of THM:  a meal that is still centered on protein but is low in fat and carbs.  Your hungry cells need to grab their meal of glucose directly from your fat cells.  Salutations, FP meal.

E?  S?  FP?  You might be saying, "Um, say what?"

I am working on a post that will elaborate on these three basic meals.  But first, I do not want to assume that everyone knows for sure how to correctly categorize fats, carbs, and proteins.   And I don't want this post to be extremely long, so click here to read about them in a separate post.