Thursday, October 15, 2015

Quick and Healthy Snack and Meal Options

I've been trying to trim down a bit. It got to the point where I felt uncomfortable in most of my clothes and I finally saw a number on the scale that "forced" me to buckle down. I'm one of the fortunate CF patients who doesn't struggle to gain weight (or lose). I have the opposite problem (even though I am pancreatic insufficient...maybe my enzymes work too well. Ha!) I lost about 20 lbs during my last hospital stay, as I wasn't eating much and when I did, I was choking things down because I knew I had to. When I got out, I was battling nausea and knew that I needed calories to regain strength, so I was eating anything I could stomach. Well my nausea subsided and my appetite came back, and I continued to eat anything I wanted, packed those 20 lbs back on, and then some. About two months ago I decided to go on a diet, or maybe more accurately, a responsible eating plan :) Here are my go-to healthy snacks and meals:

Sandwiches - There are endless sandwich options. My usual sandwich of choice is a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and yellow mustard. But I do like to sneak in a grilled cheese with turkey and tomato, or a tuna melt, from time to time.

Egg white scrambles - I throw some egg whites into a pan with any veggie I can find in my fridge. This helps me hit my protein quota for the day.

Hardboiled eggs - Quick, easy, and another good protein source.

Protein bars - We started ordering Pure Protein protein bars off of Amazon. They have some really good flavors. I eat them as a quick snack, or as my fatty snack with my nightly dose of Orkambi.

Soups - Another quick option I gravitate to are canned soups. I sometimes leave them as they are, while other times I add hot sauce or extra ingredients to beef them up as they are usually of the "light" variety.

Turkey Burgers - We buy frozen turkey burgers from Costco. I bake 4-6 in the oven at a time, and then reheat them for the next few days. I eat my burgers bun-less, usually topped with some kind of sauce.

Beefy Jerky - I could snack on beef jerky multiple times a day. Not only does it taste good, but it's full of protein, so it keeps me feeling full for awhile.

I started two months ago at 196 lbs and even after multiple work trips (where the streams of food were endless) I'm down to about 176 lbs. I'll probably continue until I'm in the 160's and then start adding back muscle in a more healthy way.