getting started

[cat17715]

I am confused,disoriented,and fustrated. OK so that might be a normal day for me, but i am new to cooking light. It is a HAVE to situtation, so I have to cook low-fat,low cholestrol every night no exceptions. I have few receipes, have only been a subscriber to CL for a couple of months, I have done searches and searches and have lots of tips,hints,receipes on 8x10 paper. I have searched for organizional ideas and meal planning. Some people like the CL meal planner? Some plan on the weekend for the following week. Right now I go to the grocery store everynight for the stuff I need for that nights dinner. I did read one idea of putting all my "papers" in an 2" binder in protective sheets. I work retail so my schedule doesn't allow me to have weekends off, at most I get 1 day of the weekend off and one week day. My pantry is the whos who of bad eating habits. My cooking skills leave a lot to be desired. I am feeling really over whelmed and I can't give up, it is not an option to go slow. I guess what I am asking is what are good pantry staples,when a CL receipe calls for butter do they really mean butter or can I use the "fake" stuff I'm stuck with. Is the cholestrol and fat counts include "butter" counts and if I substitute egg beaters will that lower some of the counts, How do you plan meals when there are not enough receipes to make it through the week. If any one knows of a link to a "where to start" section that would be great. Does any one know how much cholestrol a day is to much. Our dietian has been of little help. She gave me a small book with not enought info to answer all my questions. There are no kids in our household, just my husband and myself. Oh yeah and the dog, who likes even my really bad cooking.

[JanetB]

My suggestion to you is start simple!! Trying to make fantastic recipes every night is near impossible. I usually cook on the weekends - and wing it other nights of the week.
Plan to do something by recipe maybe three nights a week. On the other nights - do something simple - like a turkey burger, fish filet or chicken cutlet with lots of veggies,and a potato or brown rice. Or, another really easy thing is a stir fry - you can just use a little oil - some chicken, veggies - even (I hesitate to say it) boil in the bag rice. A little garlic, a little lite soy sauce. It's easy and quick -and stress free.
As for how much cholestrol a day is to much- I don't have an answer - you might want to try a site like www.oxygen.com (http://www.oxygen.com) - they have other health tips - it might be in there. Good Luck to you! It isn't easy to start out on something like this, but it does get easier. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[cryskie]

cat,

It's hard to start a new diet, especially with a sudden switch. I can let you know how I do things, but I'm not sure if it will be much help!

I usually plan 6 - 7 meals for the weeknights, and figure out what I will need for lunches and breakfasts (sandwiches, cereal, etc.) I pick out all the recipes I will use and write out a "menu"--main dish, sides, bread, etc. I then go through each dish/recipe and make a list of all the ingredients I will need. Then I go through my pantry and fridge and figure out what I already have and don't need to buy. Finally, (an extra and probably over-organized step) I write my grocery list according to parts of the store: produce, dry, fridge/freezer, and other. This looks intimidating, but the actual list part only takes me about 30 minutes. It's picking out the week's recipes that takes the longest! I do it this way because I don't have time to shop daily--I buy groceries a week at a time.

As for pantry staples, I always have olive oil, pastas and rice, canned tomatoes, beans, and 99% fat free broth, skim milk, and tons of veggies and fruits in the fridge. I can't think what else I always have.

I, too have a binder with my favorite recipes in protective sheets. As I tried out new recipes, I typed out the ones I liked most and inserted them in the binder, so they would be easy to find and use.

I do have a large collection of cookbooks, and as a dietitian, they are mostly healthy, but I find that many of my recipes are just made up. Please don't feel that you have to follow recipes to cook light food. You can always just modify some of your old recipes or make quick things like pasta with some fresh veggies sauteed in a litte olive oil or broth. You can stir fry veggies and serve it over rice. You can use leaner meats, low-fat cheeses, and skim milk in cooking.

Here are a few examples of things we eat:

pasta topped with eggplant, mushrooms, and tomatoes sauteed in a little olive oil with garlic

stir fries with different veggies (carrots, squash/zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, anything cheap and in season) over rice

sometimes baked potatoes topped with a little low-fat cheese and tons of veggies (tomatoes, steamed broccoli, etc)

black beans that have been cooked in a crockpot with onion, served with tomato chunks on top and corn tortillas

breakfasts are usually cereals with skim milk, or oatmeal, or fat-free muffins, or fruit and low-fat or fat-free yogurt

lunches are sometimes sandwiches with whole wheat bread (no mayo) and lean lunch meats for my husband, and vegetarian canned soups with crackers for me, or maybe a quick salad with fat free dressing

Usually low-cholesterol diets are somewhere around 300 milligrams or less of cholesterol daily. I'm not sure what your doctor/dietitian has prescribed.

As for the butter issue, I'm not sure what "fake stuff" you are using. Margarine has about as much fat as butter, although it is a different (and not much better) type of fat. Egg substitutes can help, and since the cholesterol is mainly found in the yolk, using just egg whites can also help. Cholesterol is mainly found in animal products.

I did a search, and www.cyberdiet.com (http://www.cyberdiet.com) has a pretty good starting point you can follow. You can use their food planner and other tools to start you off.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions if you need to!



[This message has been edited by cryskie (edited 01-13-2001).]

[BethR]

Cat -- I highly recommend Mastercook Cooking Light software. Version 6.0 is available now -- you can find it for about $20 at Target, BJs, or Costco -- and there is a rebate for a free year's subscription to Cooking Light (if the box doesn't have the rebate on it, visit www.sierra.com (http://www.sierra.com) and follow the link to the rebate section). With a little practice, mealplanning for a week or more, including generation of a shopping list, can be very quick and easy. Kentgirl posted some amazingly helpful information on mealplanning in Mastercook in another thread: http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/003288.html (http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/003288.html.). Version 6.0 includes over 1400 recipes from Cooking Light, too, so you'd also have many more recipes to choose from.

As for the butter, when CL calls for butter, they mean butter (or margerine). I've seen some past recipes that call for light butter specifically, but I think CL has moved to using "real" butter, just less of it, in recent recipes. The nutritional information for recipes including butter definitely include the butter in the calculations.

The above posters have given some great advice. The only other advice I'd give you is to seek out a better dietician -- yours sounds like a dud.

Good luck to you -- you'll find that this board is a great source of support, motivation, and ideas. It has helped me become a better cook -- I'm sure it can do the same for you!

Beth http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by BethR (edited 01-13-2001).]

[ginny177]

When I was told to go on this plan, a couple of great books became my "bibles" until I got more at home with the way of eating.
Harriet Roth " Deliciously Low" and "Deliciously Simple" are very informative and full of recipes.
Also a book called "Lower your Fat Thermostat" ( cn't remember the author)
You might want to look thes up in your local library to see what you think of them.
And the advice already given is very sound.
You really don't need to feel deprived .. just need to read food labels when you shop for a while until it gets familiar to you.
Good luck.

[cat17715]

Thank you all so very much for your inspiration and support. I have only been at this for 8 days and didn't think I would be able to keep going.

Cryskie that web site is wonderful. It was just what I needed. 12 weeks worth of menus, that I don't have to think about figuring out. Hooray!!!!! At least that will give me more time to become accustomed to our new live style.

Beth thank you for the link to kentgirls advise on mastercook. I have been reading about it on this board and had no clue what it was all about. The next time I'm out I will look for it.

Janet/Ginny thank you for your support. Now that I don't have to "think" about meal planning for a couple of week I will have time to buy/read new cook books and get my own style started.

In all fairness the dietian which the doctor sent in at the hospital to talk to us really caught us off guard. I didn't have time to think about asking any approriate questions. From Jan. 2 til now most of my days have been a blur to me. From getting the horrible phone call that DH was rushed to the hospital to completly changing our lifestyle. Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to "vent" on your shoulders. I now look forward to being able to enjoy this web site and get/give great cooking ideas.
Tammy

[Beth]

Tammy, When you look for the CL Mastercook program, look for the box with the key lime pie on the cover. That's the newest release and should have the rebate sticker on it (if not, it's easy to print off the sierrahome.com website). I can't remember what the package looked like for the 5.0 release, but the 4.0 version is still being sold as CL express. I've seen that one in the plastic CD case, no box or book with it, usually with the bargain software for $5-10. It will get you started, but if you become a regular here, you'll want the import assistant so you can copy recipes in easier, and I understand that is not in the Express version. Didn't want you to have a disappointing start.

Second point, you'll discover this BB is a unique and supportive community. Return often and feel free to post questions or seek support. The Healthy Living BB may be able to help too. Hope you and your husband are doing better and wish you well on finding a healthier lifestyle.

[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 01-14-2001).]

[LGBurns]

Tammy, I wanted to let you know about some prepared foods we get that might help on those days when you come home and want to cook fast. My husband often has to make dinner for himself because I work until 10:00 3 nights a week and have a class until 8:00 on another night. Boca Burgers and Garden Burgers are our saving grace. Also, salad mixes in a bag (in the produce section), and baked tofu in several flavors (at our store they are in a special refrigerated section near the produce).

[Terri-Lynn2]

Tammy in this months Womans world there is an article about Richard Simmons with some helpful tips and recipes. You can visit his site www.RichardSimmons.com (http://www.RichardSimmons.com) where they have a very supportive chat room and ideas and suggestions.

Here are 4 tips the article stated:

Buy Veggies already cleaned and chopped.

Opt for ready made ingredients like Egg beaters and rotisserie chicken.

Use couscous and angel hair pasta, they cook up in 5 minutes and are good alternatives to pasta and rice.

Cook once and eat twice. Double or triple recipes then freeze the leftovers.

Hope that your journey is becoming easier, once you find you get started it will become easier.

Good luck!!

Terri