Classic Meals.......new and improved!

I was inspired by the new cooking show "Cook Yourself Thin" to post a blog with some healthy alternatives to your favorite meals. The show's premise is to take people's favorite meals and cut the calories in half by switching out unhealthy ingredients with healthier ones. It is a fantastic and engaging show that I highly recommend. Most women profiled on the show dropped 2 dress sizes after eating the alternative meals for 6 weeks.

Our first meal featured above is the classic Italian dinner: Salad, bread, pasta, and dessert. For our salad we have romaine tossed with tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. The bread is a very hearty whole grain bread toasted with a tiny bit of butter and garlic powder on top. The pasta is Dreamfields pasta which is a low-glycemic pasta. Most pasta leaves you feeling wanting more and yet stuffed to the brim. This pasta has been formulated to have more complex carbs that fill you up faster and keep you satisfied longer. Plus it tastes a lot better than whole wheat pasta. The sauce is an all natural Ragu sauce with no high fructose corn syrup and I've sprinkled a tiny bit of parmesan cheese on top. And for dessert we have Breyers all natural Smooth & Dreamy vanilla ice cream covered with pomogranate seeds. It is a super palatte cleanser loaded with antioxidants.

Our next meal is the classic American Burger meal. We start with a whole wheat bun from Trader Joe's, add slices of avocado, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, 2 slices of soy cheese, Trader Joe's reduced fat mayo, Heinz's organic Ketchup, a little bit of mustard, and a delicious Dr. Praeger's California-style veggie burger (also found at TJ's). We have the obvious carrot sticks and then TJ's Baked Cheese Crunchies (essentially Cheetos). 33 crunchies is 1 serving which, if you pay attention to serving sizes when you shop, is amazingly high. For dessert we have 2 organic cookies (essentially Oreos) from Whole Foods.

Our final meal is soup and sandwich variety of American cuisine. The same veggie burger combo although this time with a Helen's Kitchen Tofu Steak (found at Trader Joe's). We have TJ's tomato and roasted red pepper soup and sweet potato fries that I cut and cooked myself. Sweet potatoes are nutrient-packed and a great low-glycemic alternative to regular potatoes. And for dessert we have a milkshake that I blended myself. I took Breyer's all natural Smooth & Dreamy vanilla ice cream, organic "Oreos" from Whole Foods, and a few drops of essential Peppermint oil and........voila! We have a healthier alternative to a fast food Mint Oreo shake. And it took about 2 minutes to gather the ingredients and dump them in the blender.

Watch "Cook Yourself Thin," read my blog, start experimenting in the kitchen, and see how much better you'll feel.