Mmmmmm… Chicken. Last night my daughter and I baked a chicken for dinner. Well, technically all I did was flip the pieces over so that she could put spices on the other side. Oh, and I also got to put on some of the barbeque sauce at the end. It was really good.
Here is the thing about chicken though. I love the skin. I absolutely love it. I think that chicken without the skin on is dry, tasteless and completely pointless. Some may look at that and say "Well I thought you were trying to lose weight." But you must remember I am trying to lose weight eating real foods that taste good. So how does one go about eating a dinner that is healthy, even if it includes a full chicken with skin on? Here is how: I only ate one piece of thigh meat, and then heaped my plate full of steamed vegetables. I got the protein, fat and complete satisfaction from the chicken, and I got the "full" feeling from the rest of it. Now I happen to like vegetables, so this wasn't a huge concession on my part. The difference between what I used to eat and I what I ate last night was quantity, not quality. To be completely honest, I do put unsalted butter on my steamed vegetables, but I have found a satisfying (but sneaky) way to avoid a lot of the calories. I steam my veggies in the microwave (or more rarely on the stove) with a little more water than recommended, and when I am done I don't drain the water. Then I put the butter (about a tablespoon or less) on top of the veggies in the main serving bowl, and stick it back in the microwave to melt. After I pull it out of the microwave I stir it all around with a slotted spoon so that the veggies have a nice sheen to them. When you look at the bowl after the veggies are gone, what you will notice is that most of the butter is still in with the water. It gives a very slight buttery taste to the veggies which is just delicious. I do this for corn, broccoli, green beans, and brussel sprouts. With corn I usually add a little salt and pepper too, but for the rest of them I like them with just a touch of butter.
Often times on Sunday I eat a really late breakfast too. We will just call it brunch. I find late breakfasts on Sunday very liberating. While I eat more calories than I would normally eat at just breakfast or just lunch, I don't eat as many as I would normally consume in both of them put together. For instance, my normal breakfast these days is a Dannon Light & Fit yogurt with some Fiber One cereal mixed in. For lunch I will eat a variety of things from a sandwich and fruit, to some pasta or a baked potato. Between the two of those I am usually sitting at about 600-750 calories. Sometimes more. But yesterday I had two poached eggs on toast, two slices of REAL bacon (although not Albertson's bacon which is the best), and a glass of orange juice. I didn't even clear 500 calories and I was full until dinner. I would actually be surprised if I topped 1,000 calories yesterday (I don't remember what my caloriecount.com total was), though I do truly try to get as close as I can to my target of 1,300 calories a day. But I am trying very hard not to eat if I am not hungry.
Now I don't usually eat that many foods with a high fat content in one day, yesterday just worked out that way. Today I am back to light yogurt and Fiber One. But it is also Monday, so I reserve the right to eat a treat after dinner when I go to my dad's house. I hope he serves something good. It's such a copout when we have Costco cookies leftover from the weekend adult single's activity he went to.
And there you have it. Chicken.
F. Bear Slippers
P.S. I've lost 9 pounds!
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