Where's the beef?

Not at my house, not anymore.

I have discovered that I can no longer eat beef. at least not ground beef. My stomach just can't handle it. We've been eating a lot of chicken and ground turkey lately mostly because it is lower in points. We decided to have hamburger helper on Sunday night and the commissary was out of ground turkey so we just grabbed some lean ground beef. First of all, i noticed i preferred the taste of it with turkey. Later I just didn't feel well and the beef was the only thing I had done differently. Tonight we decided to grill hamburgers because I found some lean fresh hamburger patties at the commissary that were only 3 pts per patty. After dinner tonight, I went out for my run. I made it through the first interval but didn't feel great so i stopped for a minute before trying the second. About 6 minutes into the second interval, I had to come home. I felt so bad. The common thread has been the beef so I think I am swearing it off mostly.  I will still try a filet sometime to see if steak is the same but I will definitely not be bringing home ground beef again any time soon.

Oh well, no big loss.

Learning to Snack and Save

This week's WW topic was about better snacking. I know this is one area that some days I am great and others, it is my downfall. I have found several healthier and lower point value snacks but so often, they are expensive. Fruit is a great snack(0 pts) but it isn't cheap and good fruit is sometimes hard to find. I am also a salty snacks person so fruit doesn't always hit the spot. I have found great chip and cheese ball alternatives with things like Pop Chips and Snikiddy Cheese balls. Both are all  natural and less points(3 pts) for twice the amount. They are perfect for when I am craving salty and crunchy.  Once again, they are not cheap if you run out to your local grocer and pick them up. Fortunately for us the commissary has started carrying Pop Chips regularly and they are at a better price, however, they only carry the large bags. I like the individual size bags in both because it is easy portion control. You just grab a bag and go, no need to measure, count or weigh. You know how much you are getting and how many points it is.

Every now and then I let the price get in the way and go for easy and cheap. That is when I slip up the most with my eating each day. Fortunately I have found and ally in this fight and its name is Amazon. Most of the healthier snacks that we love but hate the price, are available on amazon. Not only can you buy them in bulk but you can sign up for a subscription to them and save. You can set it so that it ships as little as every 6 months and you get a discount on the item and free shipping. I have used this in the past but I stopped and I don't know why. Soon I will be setting up new subscriptions to great snacks to help me keep my snacking within my daily points.

I have a new fire and I am hoping that it along with some better choices are going to help increase the results I see each week.